Bill outlawing daily dispatch of temps OK'd

A bill to effectively ban staff agencies from dispatching workers on a daily basis was approved by the government Tuesday, boosting the protection of temporary workers.

The amendment to the worker dispatch law would bar staffing agencies from dispatching registered workers for day work or less than 30 days' employment. But people in 18 professional areas, including interpreters and secretaries, would be exempt.

When a company establishes its own manpower agency, the ratio of workers it sends to group firms should not exceed 80 percent under the bill.

The government plans to submit the bill to the Diet before it closes Nov. 30. But its prospects remain uncertain, with the opposition becoming increasingly combative in response to moves by Prime Minister Taro Aso to avoid dissolving the Lower House in the immediate future.

Speaking at a news conference, Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe called on the opposition camp to cooperate in enacting the bill, saying, "Everybody knows that the practice of dispatching workers on a daily basis is problematic, so I do not believe that there are major differences in views" between the ruling and opposition camps.

"The odds would be high that an agreement will be reached unless (the opposition) developed a desire to use this issue as a power struggle or as a tool for a political fight," he said.

The dispatch of temporary workers on a daily basis has been criticized for spawning young working poor and widening Japan's social disparities.

The illegal dispatch of workers has made headlines as many firms have been found to have issued work orders and instructions to employees dispatched by staffing agencies. The bill would enable the government to advise such companies in violation of the law to form direct employment contracts with workers being sent by manpower agencies.

The amendment would take effect next Oct. 1. Some key provisions of the amendment, including banning the dispatch of day workers, would not take effect until April 1, 2010.

The amendment would be reviewed five years after its enforcement.