Haken Shain

Have you all been watching the news lately?

Haken shain, or irregular workers, have been on a lot recently.
Many companies are trying to cut costs in these bad economic times. One of the first things many companies do is to fire irregular workers. In Japan, though it is still controversial to fire workers, even when a company is not doing well.

Many companies hired iregular workers because it gave them increased flexibility. For example when times were good, companies could hire the extra workers that the needed. When times were bad, they could get rid of these workers and save money.

Recently, times are not so good, and many companies are starting to let workers go. However, the reaction by the Japanese media to the recent fireings of some irregular workers, especially by Canon, is probably very surrpising to big companies. They hire workers on contracts that can be ended at any time, and when they end the contracts, they get in trouble.

It seems to me that the haken shain system is not working. Companies still come under pressure to not fire workers. The media still portrays the big companies as bad guys. And the haken syain, well their lives aren't improved either. In difficult economic times, their lives become very unstable.

To be honest, I am not sure what needs to be done, but one thing seems clear, with the current attitudes of the Japanese media and Japanese people, companies that employ haken shain aren't getting what they bargained for.

If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. I'd like to hear what you think!