Work Isn’t Worth It
Masaomi: Regarding employment, too, I think the framework has now begun to crumble completely. When middle-aged and older people see freeters they preach at them: “Why don’t you get a job?!” But work is becoming less and less a place where one can feel motivation or zest for life. Because we force them into jobs, we end up with the 7-5-3 phenomenon. 70% of middle school graduates quit their first jobs after three years. The same applies for 50% of high school graduates and 30% of college graduates.
Masaru: Before we even mention the employed, we should note that these days there are lots of regions where only one in five high school graduates finds a full-time job.
Masaomi: Yes, the first step is a problem, too. On top of that, labor is becoming more monotonous and its intensification more common.
Masaru: As industries become more service-oriented, personnel expenses increase. So they make hiring more fluid, based on an intricate work manual. Labor has become terribly exhausting.
Managers of game centers or of pubs belonging to chains can expect to sleep from three to five hours a night if they are full-time employees. There are even students in my seminars who are thin and hollowed out from working late into the night and then getting up in the morning to go to work again. With a lifestyle like that, you can’t get anyone besides freeters to do those jobs. Freeters actually work eight hours a day, five days a week. If they were full-time employees, that would be something. Deflation has people competing late into the night. Those in their thirties who were hired during the bubble still have this fantasy of switching jobs, but the reality is that if you switch jobs the conditions will be much worse. So more and more people end up not working anymore and hibernating in their rooms.
Middle-aged and elderly people say they lack perseverance. What they really mean is, “If you guys don’t work, I won’t get my retirement allowance.” It’s an extremely selfish demand. They’ve chased after economic growth. They had a goal in mind. Now the situation is totally different.
Masaomi: In discussing solutions to the unemployment of youth, I hear one line of thought that goes like this: “Young people today lack work-consciousness. Therefore, we should have them experience various occupations at an early age.” However, there are very few places to receive them. As the work field grows more impoverished, forcing people to chase after work will simply result in them quitting.
I think we will be at a loss what to do unless we back up and rethink what it means to work.
Masaru: No matter how well you master the proper angle for bowing to customers at McDonald’s, you will only be able to switch jobs to Kentucky or Lotteria (laughter). The reason why comic books and tv dramas about cooks are so popular now is because you can see your skills improving and people pleased by your work. The obverse of this is that there are very few occupations where you can clearly see yourself as useful to society—cooks, or charismatic beauticians. Granted, without money you’re stuck, but that’s not all. Unless you can feel motivated or see some destination, you don’t stay long at the job.
In the service industry today, there are very few jobs like that. Even for full-time employees, the labor standards laws are practically meaningless.
Masaomi: It seems to me that due to the bubble, Japan has transformed into a “money standard system.” Work is secondary, as in “Anything goes if it’ll make money!” That’s how it feels on the ground as an observant in the Labor Policy office. Convenience stores are a typical example. “Mr. A worked eight hours and sold this much. Mr. B sold only this much, so Mr. B’s wages will be half of Mr. A’s.” That kind of thing is happening without compunction. The way results and wages are linked is “rational” in the extreme, which makes the significance of work less and less comprehensible.
Masaru: Merit-based pay sounds lovely as words: “If you work, you will be rewarded.” But you yourself do not advance. Though product planning at Sony or Toyota may seem like fun, there aren’t many jobs like that in the world. Mechanical labor counts for 80~90%.
It used to be that one of the best aspects of Japan was “on-the-job ingenuity.” Workers took joy in that, but it is disappearing holus-bolus. With everything orchestrated by computer, technicians on the job are left little room for individual creativity.
Masaomi: People don’t take much pride in making things anymore. I’ve heard someone say that if the shoes you made don’t sell, take them to Yumenoshima [reclaimed island in Tokyo Bay where Tokyo refuse is dumped] and dump them. If you dump them in pairs, people will take them away, so first you throw away only the right shoes, then a week later you toss the left. Everyone is focused solely on sales. Where Did the Labor Unions Go?
Solitary Workers
Masaomi: When I do labor consultations at work, I get the impression that consciousness of solidarity is very thin among workers. For instance, people come with the complaint that their employers won’t pay them. Even if I tell them, “It’s dangerous to take action alone. You could all get together to negotiate, or go to the Labor Standards Inspection Bureau together,” they never act in the plural. I don’t think it was like this a while ago.
They have almost no communication with co-workers sitting right next to them. If I ask them, “So did you discuss this with your superiors?” they say they haven’t done that either. “So why don’t you take this opportunity to talk to the people at work?” I say. They ask, “You mean it’s okay to discuss this sort of thing with colleagues?” That’s the way things are.
Masaru: Labor unions in this country scarcely function. Recently, there are many lawsuits concerning unfair labor practices and wage discrimination that do not come up via labor unions. You think, “Why don’t they go to the labor union?” but they do not rely on unions, and the unions make no effort to help them.
Masaomi: Presently, the law is structured around the assumption that labor unions are functioning properly and that there is a balance of power between them and corporate executives. Those for whom these conditions are not in place do not have any rights.
The same goes for protection of lifestyle. It’s hard just getting to the point where you can assert your rights. In today’s Japan, even though laws concerning labor standards exist, if you assert your rights you will be fired. So no one says anything. This is a country where the concept of contract simply does not take root.
Masaru: What’s more, Japan‘s labor unions are organized according to industry. The grand purpose, in which everything else is implicated, is the growth of the industry. “Even if employees force something on us, we will protect the profits of the industry.” That’s the way it has become. It’s totally perverse.
Basically, you can’t fight by yourself. That’s why unions exist. The reason why people are increasingly coming to labor consultation alone and suing by themselves is because really awful things are happening.
Masaomi: I have thought for a long time that there are two kinds of labor unions. Is it ideology and face that they really care about? Or do they pragmatically lay it on the line—”If you join the union, you will have these benefits”—and create a solid organization with a clear merit system, including insurance functions? Which one is it? You know, just lining up political slogans during the spring labor offensive…
Masaru: Their slogans sound empty somehow.
At times like this when employment is becoming so difficult, a union that doesn’t protect employment is meaningless.
Masaomi: One effort to bring actual merits of unionization to the fore can be seen among unions comprised of alliances of individuals hired as part-timers, temporary staff, and those who personally object to the industry. Earlier you mentioned the limits of industry-based unions. I think we can place our hopes in efforts to revitalize human relations apart from the industry.
Masaru: In the 1980s during the era of Thatcherism, I made a number of research visits to local governing bodies in England. There were huge numbers of homeless people. The rich had gone to the suburbs. Immigrants and those at lower income levels were concentrated at the center. Slums developed and people became homeless. When I look at Japan now, I remember this. In cities throughout Japan—and the number is increasing rapidly—there may not be any homeless downtown yet, but you never see anyone walking down the street.
The current Prime Minister, Blair, who came after Thatcher, has constantly touted community and education. That shows how badly England had disintegrated in the 80s. At present, the most unpopular politician in England is Thatcher.
If, in the name of globalization, we hurry from industry to the service professions, adopt international accounting standards, and make employment more fluid, the same situation will arise in Japan. The problem would manifest itself even more drastically in this deflation were Koizumi to imitate Thatcher or Reagan.
Masaomi: These days, market-driven theories are popular not only for the economy but for addressing employment and labor. Businesses are relaxing the rules, turning full-time employees into freeters and temporaries. They’re even trying to do away with the notion of time.
Human beings can’t store up sleep or work. A beer company worker, for example, is told to be flexible, to work madly to death during peak season, and then to sleep at home when he becomes “free,” but humans don’t function like that.
Masaru: One fundamental tenet of the ILO (International Labor Organization) Constitution is that human labor is not a commodity. Yet some are trying to erase this principle from the labor laws.
The European Road or the American Road?
Masaomi: What they’re aiming for now is basically an American-style policy, isn’t it? To throw away all the good aspects that are being implemented in Europe.
Masaru: However you look at it, it is inconceivable that the American way is going to last for very long. The fact of the matter is that real wages of those at the bottom are not increasing at all. Rather, they are decreasing.
In contrast, the average yearly income of the top ten CEOs in America is about $150,000,000(approximately 18,500,000,000 yen). This is about forty-five times as much as twenty years ago. All I can say is that this is extraordinary. It is beyond what in Marxism is called “exploitation.” Even critics have to recognize this reality.
For instance, in the world of finance, you can make more money in a single deal than a laborer would in ten years. That’s how it was during the bubble era in Japan. Land bought for 50,000,000 yen would appreciate in only a few months to 80,000,000 yen. In order to earn 30,000,000 yen, it would take a mid-level worker from five to six years.
With society structured like that, you get rotten guys sitting at the top. They are the ones chanting grade-ism, performance. “Increase profits!” they demand. Why aren’t people outraged at double, triple layers of unfairness?
Masaomi: Even worse is that they talk about philosophies of education. They’re like preaching thieves.
Masaru: With temporaries and freeters increasing to this extent, we can’t ignore their retirement and health insurance. Things can’t go on like this.
Even freeters, whether employed for short or long periods, pay taxes according to their income. Industries also pay taxes in accordance with wages distributed, which becomes social security funds. It is our urgent task to create a system whereby they are acknowledged as members of society.
However, business managers’ associations in Japan merely call for consumption tax increases, in order to evade their own burdens. They are not the least bit interested in really shaping society.
Masaomi: They don’t follow the global standard at all.
I can say this perhaps because I don’t derive my identity from the fact that I work for the government, but it seems to me that the government’s structure is in a fix, bogged down. Their handling of the mad cow disease is a typical example.
Hiding the Problem of the Homeless
When it comes to the question, “What would you have the government do?” one thing would be to have it gather and publish information. It is the same with the homeless. In fact, the government has deliberately avoided compiling proper statistics.
Masaru: In other countries, they may not have a family registry system, but they do have proper statistics on their homeless. In this country we have mandatory family registration, but we hardly ever create statistics on the homeless.
In short, people don’t want to acknowledge that there is a problem, that the number of homeless is increasing this much.
Masaomi: That’s exactly it. That’s why I’m most concerned that there is no data. Why is there no data? It’s simple. If you create the data, you have to address these issues in your policies. You have to protect the welfare of these people. If you had information on how many people have not had a proper meal in over three years and are on the verge of death, you’d be forced as part of your unemployment policy to expand unemployment insurance.
Masaru: Or you could say that it is important for places outside the government, too, to do the work of creating data like that.
Masaomi: We can force the government to make public the data it has. Whatever data doesn’t exist, we can create. If we do that, the government will have no choice but to get moving.
Masaru: One thing that causes lack of imagination is that there is no data or information. The media is just official reports. It’s gotten to the point where I tell students they absolutely must not read the front page of the newspaper (wry laughter).
Masaomi: Whenever there is a problem, the bureaucracy tries to implement measures that can withstand the criticism of society, but they do so by using only the people and resources they already have to hand. The Homeless Support Act (2002) is like that.
However, who, in actuality, do you think cares for those in a “hope-less” situation? Volunteers. Homeless people will not trust the government unless they let volunteer organizations intervene.
How to Set Fire to Rage
Masaomi: Presently in the Tokyo Labor Policy office, about 50,000 labor consultations are made a year. Dismissal, retirement allowance, and failure to pay wages are what we call the Three Big Troubles. Over fifty percent of cases have to do with these issues.
Among those, overwhelmingly the most prevalent is dismissal due to bankruptcy. Absurd firings. For incomprehensible reasons, people are easily laid off. I get the sense that the anger of those who are dumped is less intense than it used to be. What are they thinking? “Some of my friends quit work, too. Well, I guess that’s the way it is these days.”
In popular music-discussion programs and the like, sometimes they have a question and answer section where they ask what you should do if you’re fired. The response is enormous. People come for advice, like a certain brown-haired young man trying to make it as a musician: “I worked three days and was duped? Only two thousand yen. Can anything be done?” There are loads of stories like that.
Yet not one young person like that gets angry. “It’s okay. We can make them pay,” I say. “Well, excuse me, then, Mr. Kaneko. Will you go get the money, please?” “No, you have to go get it.” “No thanks. If that’s the case, forget it.” And so it goes. Those who get angry are middle-aged and elderly, as well as a majority of women.
Masaru: Getting mad is crucial, isn’t it? I agree that not everyone has given up to that extent. They’re carrying around a lot of pent up stuff, which might be dangerous if set alight.
Masaomi: I deal with a lot of sexual harassment cases. Women’s anger at sexual harassment is an awesome power. Think about it. They’re fighting mammoth enterprises with their own personal dignity.
Fires are ignited simply by knowing the term “sexual harassment”. This can provide avenues to vent one’s rage.
Masaru: I think there are three problems: language does not capture people’s feelings; obvious goals are not apparent; and there are no channels for expressing opinions. Under these circumstances, even imagination, anger, and other basic human emotions are collapsing.
Environmental problems, to which hardly any attention was paid in the past, have become big issues today. What we need is the same kind of tenacity and resourcefulness that was shown in relation to them.
Translation by Lorinda Kiyama.
SEKAI, no. 710 (February 2003), translated by Lorinda Kiyama. Reprinted from Japan in the World website.
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