Boost for contract workers as Toyota union admits 4,000

NAGOYA (Kyodo) The employee union at Toyota Motor Corp. plans to take in some 4,000 contract workers with at least one year of service at 12 of the automaker's domestic factories next spring, union officials said in a statement Thursday.

By taking this initiative for the first time, the Toyota Motor Workers' Union intends to call on management to improve conditions for contract workers and give them the opportunity to become permanent employees, the officials said.

Some retailers have already taken on some of their contract workers as permanent staff. With the Toyota union taking a similar step, the concept may spread to other companies in the manufacturing industry, analysts say.

The Toyota union's plan will be made official at its regular convention later this month, according to union officials.

As the company has boosted domestic production, the number of its factory workers hired on a short-term contract basis has increased and now totals some 9,000 people.

Their contracts come up for renewal every four or six months and their employment can be extended to a maximum of two years and 11 months.

Sales of imported vehicles, including those built by Japanese carmakers abroad, in the six months to September increased 3.8 percent from a year earlier to 132,109 units due to robust sales of imported Japanese cars, data released by an industry body showed Thursday.

Imports of foreign-brand vehicles alone, however, dipped 6.8 percent to 111,163 units, according to the preliminary data by the Japan Automobile Importers Association.

Sluggish sales of foreign brands were offset by imports of Japanese brands, which surged as much as 162.2 percent in the period to 20,946 units, the data showed.

For the month of September, sales of new imported vehicles, including those built by Japanese carmakers abroad, increased 7.4 percent from a year before to 28,472 vehicles, rising for the fifth straight month.