During 1990’s, the characteristics of the temporary workers’ problem were mainly for women. Women have fought against improvements of temporary worker’ status since 1990’s to beginning of 2000 (Sekine 76). However, the problems of temporary workers are not only for women, but also they started to become problems for men as well around 2008 (76). The main problem of temporary works is the workers cannot receive any social welfare, such as provided health insurance and unemployment benefit (77). Even though the situations for temporary workers are no longer better than full-time work, the number of people who register for the temporary positions have been increasing. Interestingly enough, the characteristic of the temporary workers are both educated and uneducated. According to the website of Information of Temporary Work, en, explains that the system of becoming temporary workers is very complicated. First, people who are willing to work as temporary worker need to register them to the intercessor companies. Second, those people are asked questions in order for companies to distribute them to the correct spots. Third, people start working, but some fees for companies are deducted from their every month’ salaries. This is a totally disadvantage for the workers, but there are some advantages as well as disadvantages. The advantages are 1) they can choose where to work, 2) they can choose their work contents, and 3) they can experience many kinds of works. The third advantage is also the reason why people choose to be a temporary worker, but there are some disadvantages too. These disadvantages are 1) they cannot receive any benefit or prizes, 2) they cannot receive travel expense allowances, and 3) they may not be able to find next job after their contracts expire.
These people, regardless of their educational background, are willing to work as temporary worker. This is because there are varieties of social and gender expectations exist. According to the temporary work information website, some reasons for choosing to be temporary workers are 1) they would like to help and support their families, even though there are main source of incomes, 2) they would like to experience many types of work, 3) they would like to work to get money, 4) they would like to improve themselves throughout their work experiences, and 5) they would like to earn as much money as possible within limited time. The chart below explains the age distribution of temporary workers. As it showes, the ages from twenty-five to thirty-nine occupy sixty-eight percent. These ages are the time when people are powerfull and spend a lot of time on work.
Working as temporary workers during the age from twenty-five to thirty-nine is very crucial because there is hidden disadvantage; no matter how long they work for the company as a temporary worker, their salary never increase (en). This means that they cannot have enough money to save. Suppose those full-time workers’ salary increases every year, and this means they have enough and more money to save for their children, themselves, and emergency. Temporary workers’ husbandaries stay in the same level, but they are not able to spend money for emergencies, such as the even happened in the December 2008.
This incident was caused not only by the economic crisis, but also the lack of the law protections for the temporary workers. The law of Temporary Work is newly established law and it has been effective only 23 years. Around 1985, the Japanese parliament had approved the Law of Temprary Work because Japanese buisiness circles demanded the support of temporary worker such as tlanslators, stenographers, fast typers. Due to the pressures from the circle, the parliament finally approved the law because they were concered with temporary workers could have been as lobor slaves. After the Japanese bubble economy poped, the government worsen the law. As a result, those temporary workers have been treated as disposal workers to protect the companies’ interests, profits, and full-time workers. Those companies were driven by the “true merit” (Barry 113). Companies actions that threw away unnessesary workers can be explained by Barry’s definition of meritocratic society that Barry explains “equal opprtunities for those with equal native talent” (Barry 112). Those companies that diposed of temporary workers protected their equal opprtunities for full-time worker to stay as-is, because they share the same native talents of being capable of doing same quality of works. Whereas, those temporary workers had to be dismissed because they did not share the native talents as Barry describes. These disposals of temporary workers can be the evidence of Barry’s perspectives of meritocracy that Barry states “opportunities to achieve “merit” are so unequal” (110) because those dismissed workers could not achieve their merits. These merits are the ones that introduced in previouse sections.
However, the indicends which occurred during the time also brings up the issue of winded moral liability. This event is the case of failed moral and collective liability. Those dimissed workers are the ones who have been “orientated towards integration into socioeconomic system rather than separation” (McGary 82). These workers have been sold or rented into sociseconomic system as goods for campanies in order to boost their businesses. The fuel is required in order to make boosters to boost everything, and in this case, the fuel for boosters were the U.S. dallors. However, when global economic started failing, the fuel for the boosters lacks, and as a result the companies detached boosters from their business because unfunctional parts, boosters, only slowdown their businesses. This means salaries that companies pay for those temporary workers became unaffordanble.
Shortly after the event, the society started to be diveded into three that 1) people blame on companies resposibilities, 2) people blame on the Japanese Government’s responsibility, and 3) people blame on those temporary workers’ responsibility.
