Editor: One recent trend in the process of informalization has been the increasing use of ‘trainee’ labour in South Korea and Japan. This form of labour would appear to be formal and protected, as the system for employment of these foreign workers is governed and regulated by particular government departments and agencies. However the truth is that this institution has become a way to prop up companies that could not survive domestically otherwise, and have become dependent on the ability to employ workers from other parts of Asia at low wages.

In the article below, Michiko Hiroki shares news of foreign trainees in Japan gathering to share experiences and overcome common abuses.

Translated by Doris Lee

On 8 March 2008, International Women’s Day, the first National Forum of Foreign Trainees was held in Tokyo. Activists from NGOs and unions taking up the problem of foreign trainees and technical interns, researchers, students, journalists and people of various walks who are concerned about this problem all gathered, filling the seats with over 200 people. Standing out among them were trainees and technical interns from China, including young women, facing human rights problems with their employers. They were women who had fled from garment factories of different regions, seeking the help of the Advocacy Network for Foreign Trainees’ which was the host of this meeting.
Jeong Kui Sun from the Committee for the Human Rights of Foreign Workers in Pusan, in her keynote speech, shared her experience: in Korea the foreign trainee (or apprentice) system was introduced from Japan, and responding to the human rights problems of trainees, the trainee system has now been stopped and reformed into the ‘employment permit system’. (See Box, page 11.)

Cases from different regions of Japan

Participants from each region exchanged their experiences about how they tackled their problems, and related their wisdom. Regarding the problems from migrant-sending countries, one of the speakers pointed out the problem of sending agencies in China. In China, a new Labour Contract Law has been implemented since 1 January of this year, and it was noted that it would apply to the trainees and technical interns coming to Japan also, so one topic that came out was how to activate the law from now on. In this small group, there were around 20 people participating—trainees and technical interns from China, both male and female, of whom two women gave very vivid reports about the current situation. One was an intern at a garment factory, and she shared that time for going to the toilet was restricted, they were neglected even if they became ill, and contact with Japanese people was restricted, and they could only go shopping once per week, and at that, only if accompanied by Japanese staff. The other person shared that as a trainee, the monthly salary was 49,000 yen (JPY103.8=US$1, 8 March 2008) and the hourly overtime was 200 yen. Hearing that one head of cabbage cost 200 yen, participants could realize how low the wages were.
JITCO, or Japan International Training Cooperation Organization, is an agency jointly managed by five ministries, (Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport) which handles trainee-sending agencies, receiving organizations, and support and services for trainees. When the Labour Standard Inspection Office and JITCO come to the factory to conduct surveys, they are forced to answer that they receive hourly wages of 890 yen. Because they work from 8 in the morning to 11 at night and no time is given to eat slowly, many workers develop bad stomachs. If they refuse to work overtime, they are told that they will be sent back to their countries, she clearly reported.

Workers and activists also shared their experiences of legal struggles in different regions. In a court case of sexual harassment by JITCO staff, a settlement was reached at the beginning of the year, but cases of trainees’ human rights’ violations, unpaid wages, and cuts taken by middlemen (i.e. agents) have been increasing. One case in Tochigi Prefecture of an ex-trainee who was treated as a ‘fugitive’ and was shot and killed by police is ongoing. There are also heartbreaking cases like the one in Kisarazu, in which a trainee working at a pig farm who had been threatened constantly with being ‘forced to go home’ killed his employer, became an assailant in the case, and was finally sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment. Here, the big problem has been the ‘worker nature’ of the trainees. Because the trainees are not recognized as workers, in spite of their actual situation as workers, the labour standard law and worker injury compensation laws cannot be applied to them, and there is no legal basis for protecting the trainees.
The need for a radical reform of the system as a precedent to legislation was emphasized.

Policy reform and advocacy

The policy and advocacy regarding the system of trainees and technical interns was also debated. It was noted that policy was spread among various ministries, such as the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; however in a vertically oriented government this brought about many contradictions. Regarding the policy reforms from now on, there are two ways ahead: either 1) completely change the system itself or 2) keep the present system and just improve it partially. It was finally concluded that the time has come to create a space for serious debate about how to handle things including the permanent residency of foreigners, while not being able to abandon the current system which is like an investment fund for organized crime groups like yakuza (Japanese mafia).

Japan’s foreign trainee system, after 1960, began for the purpose of providing training in the necessary skills and knowledge for local staff in overseas factories, in accordance with the overseas outflow of Japanese industry. Thus at that time those who could become foreign trainees were limited to large companies that could provide the necessary expenses and human resources, and it was a condition that after repatriation, the skills and knowledge gained in Japan must be demonstrated on the job.
In 1985 after the Plaza Accord of the five developed countries (G-5), amidst the rapid rise of the yen, large numbers of foreign workers began to enter Japan for the purpose of work, but Japan made clear announcements that it would not accept purely workers into the country, and strictly enforced this. However as the bubble economy gave rise to a shortage of labour, especially among small to medium-size enterprises, the criteria for remaining in Japan as ‘trainees’ was allowed. With further deregulation, small and medium-size businesses and corporations of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry would accept trainees in their capacity of association, and the ‘association administration mode of hiring [trainees]’, which guides and administers businesses that hire trainees, has become possible. Thus, it became possible for small and medium size businesses with no connection to overseas expansion to easily hire trainees.
Previously the standard limit of trainees in a company was one trainee accepted per 20 regular workers in a company, but it has been changed so that for companies of 50 or less regular workers, three trainees may be accepted. (I.e. even if a company has one regular worker, up to three trainees is still allowed.) It used to be that over one third of trainees’ work should be non-working training; however now that has been deregulated to be only one third or one fourth of trainees’ time required to be non-working training time. Thus a structure has been created for low-paid labour, which is training in name only. Moreover since trainees are regarded as not being workers, the Labour Standard Law, Worker Injury Compensation Law, Unemployment Insurance and similar labour-related laws are not applicable, and only the hourly trainee wages are paid to them.
In 1993, the ‘Technical Interns’ system (‘Skill Training System for Foreigners’) was newly established. This is something whereby, after completion of a traineeship, during one year, the worker could do an industrial internship (also called apprenticeship, and be recognized as a worker). In 1997 the industrial internship period was extended from one year to two years, and total years of training extended to a maximum of three years. According to ‘The Basic Framework for Industrial Interns’, the trainee system is a kind of international contribution, as it was intended for the transfer of skills to developing countries, and cooperation in creating people who could carry forward the economic development of those developing countries. However in fact the system is a structure for cheaply using and then disposing of workers with no rights, and large numbers of trainees and industrial interns are made to work in small and medium-sized companies that are not even able to pay the minimum wage.

The Current Situation of Foreign Trainees and Industrial Interns

Broadly speaking, to introduce the statistics of trainees and industrial interns, first of all, among the number of foreign workers who come to Japan to work: there are 925,000 people, of whom 170,000 people are undocumented workers.1 Currently about 100,000 foreign workers in Japan are trainees and industrial interns.


Country origin and industry of trainees

A look at the nationality and birthplace of trainees whose that Chinese origin workers are increasing year by year, in 2004 taking up 64.7 per cent (and in 2008 have reached more than 80 per cent) . Next are Indonesia (6.9 per cent), Vietnam (5.1 per cent), and Philippines (4.8 per cent). Viewing by gender, in 1997, male workers took a much larger proportion at 67.1 per cent, but in 2001 the trend reversed and in 2004, women represented 57.8 per cent of workers. This is related to a change in the industries accepting trainees. The job types targeted for industrial internships are of 62 types and 114 operations, but clothes and other garment manufacturing industries take up 27.6 per cent of the interns, and the food industry takes up 14.6 per cent. It is thought that this reflects that there are a lot of women in these industries.

In the case of association administration (mostly small to medium size companies) 55.2 per cent, or more than half, of trainees receive up to 60,000 to 70,000 yen per month, while 87.3 per cent of them received up to 50,000-80,000 yen. Regarding the levels of contractual wages for industrial interns: 36.8 per cent should have been receiving 110,000 to 120,000 yen, and 82.5 per cent should have been receiving up to 130,000 yen.2 Taking into consideration the excessive working hours of up to 12 hours per day, almost total lack of resting time, and the failure to pay salary and overtime wages according to regulations, in many cases the trainees and interns do not even make minimum wage. Moreover with rooms that even a heater cannot fit into while forced to pay high rents, and forced savings of 40,000 to 50,000 yen withdrawn from their accounts, the living conditions of the workers are often so terrible that they cannot even accumulate enough savings to return to their home country.

Besides that, the trainees are required to pay large amounts of money as brokerage fee (to the sending agency in the home country), passports are taken and held as soon as the trainees arrive in Japan, and trainees have no freedom to go out. The human rights problems of trainees are endless. Above all, the fear and pressure that companies wield upon trainees, saying that they will be repatriated to their countries if they cause any trouble, are keeping the trainees and industrial interns silent about abuses they suffer.

In order to solve these problems, the Advocacy Network for Foreign Trainees has arranged support activities for trainees and industrial interns in every part of the country, and media broadcasting of these have become more frequent. The Network believes that the problems caused by the system itself are many, and therefore suggests a radical reform of the system and reconsideration of the policy regarding foreign workers.

• Ministry of Justice, Immigration Administration Bureau, ‘2007 Emigration/Immigration Administration’
• 2004, ‘JITCO White Paper 2005’.
• Employment Permit System for Foreign Workers in Korea - a Parallel Case
  Korea has had an industrial trainee programme similar to that of Japan since 1993. As in Japan, small and medium businesses had difficulties finding workers and the ability to hire willing foreign workers at low cost was a huge boon for them. Under the industrial trainee system in the past, it was legal for a company to pay a Chinese worker in Korea the same wage they would have received in China—i.e. only 10-20 per cent of what a Korean worker would have earned. (See ‘Chinese Migrants in Korea’, ALU Issue No. 42.)
  However in 2006, the Supreme Court in Korea ruled that the treatment of foreign workers should be the same as that of local workers. Previously under the industrial trainee programme, trainees did not receive the minimum wage during their first year; now under the employment permit system which replaced the industrial trainee system, foreign workers are entitled to the minimum wage from the start.
  The extent of migrant abuse has been well-reported in the Korea media. In a report by the Korean Herald in February 2007, 81 per cent of migrants reported they had not received wages on time or worked too many hours and 2,000 suffered workplace injuries in 2005, including 70 who died. Migrants often complain of beatings and verbal abuse from employers.
  Under the employment permit system, foreign workers are allowed to stay for three years. However workers often decide to stay in Korea rather than return to their countries of origin, pay fees, and re-enter Korea as legal guest workers. Thus the system has led to more enforcement against illegal migrants.
  Korea has 23 detention facilities to hold unauthorized migrants until removal. A fire in the Yeosu Foreigners’ Detention Center killed 10 migrants on 11 February 2007.
  Yet businesses cannot resist the huge profits from exploiting the ‘illegal’ status of workers, which leads workers to tolerate any kinds of abuse out of fear of being repatriated.
  Migrant workers have been organizing and now there is a Migrant Trade Union, affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. However it is under severe and persistent attack. See the Action Alert on page 42 to take support action.