第98回 WORKSHOP報告(2月7日) / 参加者71名

第98回 WORKSHOP報告(2月7日) / 参加者71名

 

1

(1:前半マテリアル作成者のSさんから説明がありました)

 

2

(2:今回も70人を超える方がご参加されました)

 

 

3

(3:こちらは上級者テーブルのディスカッションです)

 

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《 今回のworkshop 》

 

○workshop参加人数:71名(うち新人の方:11名)

 

○【前半】:”Current situation of Tohoku area”というテーマでディスカッション

 

○【後半】:”Reducing overwork-related deaths”というテーマでディスカッション

 

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<英語サークル E’s club 第98回workshopのご案内>

 

みなさまこんばんは、E’s club幹事のKです。

2月7日(土)開催の第98回workshopの詳細をお送りいたします。

 

今回は前半のマテリアルをSさん、後半のマテリアルをMさんにご作成いただきました。

前半は”Current situation of Tohoku area”、後半は”Reducing overwork-related deaths”というテーマでディスカッションを行います。

 

[今週のマテリアル]

<FIRST HALF>

Hi! I’m S.

Today, I’d like you to talk about attractive and current situation of Tohoku area.

I’ve traveled to Yamagata,Fukushima,Iwate, and Miyagi prefectures several times.

Every prefecture has kind people, dynamic nature, and delicious food.

But, they were damaged by Tohoku great earth quake four years ago.

And still now, many people struggle with recovery of their hometown.

 

(1)What is attractive point of Tohoku area?

(food,culture,tradition,entertainment…anything is OK)

 

(2)Please imagine current difficulties of Tohoku area.

 

・243,040 people are taking refuge as of September 2014 (In reference of pamphlet of Reconstruction agency.),

・“Osensui” of Fukushima nuclear power plant haven’t been solved yet.

 

(3) What do you think about the damage of Tohoku area?

Do you think the damage of Tohoku area isn’t your matter?

 

(4)Do you know the action supporting Tohoku area?

 

・スマイルとうほくプロジェクト

http://smile-tohoku.jp/

・糸井重里のほぼ日

http://www.1101.com/touhoku_chief/

http://oen.securite.jp/

・東北コットンプロジェクト

http://www.tohokucotton.com/

 

What action can you take for supporting Tohoku area?

(donating, travelling Tohoku area, getting information about Tohoku area from newspapers, etc…)

 

 

<LATTER HALF>

<Agenda> Reducing overwork-related deaths

 

In its latest session the Diet enacted a law (過労死等防止対策推進法) that requires the central government to take measures to prevent deaths resulting from overwork, including suicides. These problems have long been a serious issue in Japanese society, and the legislation won unanimous support of all the parties in both chambers. But the law fails to set down concrete rules to prevent overwork and does not provide punishment for businesses that subject their workers to extremely long work hours.

 

This time let us discuss the issue and think what does overwork mean to you.

Are you happy with the current working environment?

 

Q-1:What is overwork ? Define it on your own terms and then talk what are the problems with overwork.

Is this problem ? Discuss why and why not.

 

Q-2:What are the “root causes” of overwork? Narrow it down as much as you can.

 

Q-3:What are the upsides of overwork?

 

Q-4:What are the downsides of overwork?

 

Q-5:How should we address the issue? Think at government level, corporate level and individual level, then exchange your opinion.

 

<Reference>

Reducing overwork-related deaths

The Japan Times

JUL 8, 2014

 

As a first step, the government should make the steps it has to take under the new law as effective as possible. They include conducting studies into the realities of overwork-induced deaths and beefing up counseling services for workers subjected to overwork and their families, as well as increasing support for nongovernmental organizations dealing with various problems resulting from overwork.

 

According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, a record 1,409 people applied for workers’ accidents compensation in fiscal 2013 for mental illnesses such as depression suffered as a result of overwork – 152 more than in the previous yea – and 436 of them were awarded compensation, the second-largest number since the ministry started taking such a survey in 1983. Of those awarded compensation, 63 had either committed or attempted suicide. Factors that triggered the mental illnesses included power harassment, sexual harassment and bullying at workplaces.

 

In addition, 784 workers applied for compensation in fiscal 2013 for having suffered cardiovascular or brain diseases including cerebral hemorrhage due to overwork, 58 fewer than in the previous year, and 133 of them were awarded compensation, topping 100 for 12 consecutive years.

 

It is important for the government, businesses and labor unions to realize that these figures represent only a tiny fraction of the real situation. Many other cases caused by overwork do not come to the surface because workers and their families seeking damages are required to present evidence and they are awarded compensation only if they meet certain conditions. The government should conduct a thorough study to get a detailed picture of what’s taking place at workplaces, by going beyond cases that were officially recognized as work-related accidents.

 

There are large numbers of workers in their 40s or younger who kill themselves due to stress from overwork while deaths from overwork happen more often among workers in their 40s and older. The government needs to find out why and devise measures to improve the situation.

 

The Labor Standards Law sets the upper limit of regular working hours at eight hours a day and 40 hours a week. But this regulation exists almost in name only because some companies and their labor unions can sign agreements that allow much overtime – sometimes even more than 80 hours a month. It is said that if people work under such conditions for an extended period, their chances of death form overwork greatly increases. The government needs to close this overtime loopholes in labor regulations.

 

Just as the law aimed at preventing death from overwork has been enacted by the Diet, the Abe administration is striving to introduce a system under which wages would be paid on the basis of employees’ work performance instead of the amount of time spent on the job for certain categories of workers by doing away with the work-hour regulations on them. While members of the Abe administration say the system will apply only to a small number of highly paid workers, some business leaders are calling for introducing the system into a broad segment of the Japanese workforce.

 

Such a policy would contradict the spirit of the new, anti-overwork law. The government should give priority to reducing the excessively long working hours of so many of the nation’s corporate employees.

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