The IHT/Asahi Employees Union has both foreign and Japanese nonregular employees of The Asahi Shimbun International Division. We were established in November 2002 as a branch of the National Union of General Workers (Nambu).

We have tried to negotiate with The Asahi Shimbun, but this self-proclaimed "liberal" newspaper company has ignored most of our main demands. In collective bargaining talks, we have asked that the paper:

• Treat Japanese union members as laborers under the Japanese Labor Standards Law
• Withdraw contract renewal pay cuts for foreign union members
• Respect our fundamental rights as a labor union
• Provide minimal use of facilities for union activities
• Form a grievance committee
• Provide free home subscription the IHT/Asahi Shimbun for all company workers, not just full-time employees

Other than the use of phone/fax for union activities, the paper has refused our demands across the board, even refusing permission to post a union bulletin board. What are they afraid of?

Japanese workers without regular-employee status (i.e., those with no contracts) are not given paid holidays and are not enrolled in unemployment insurance. These nonregular Japanese employees work as reporters and translators in the paper's International Division. They have regular working hours, yet they are paid on a day-wage basis.

They are clearly laborers protected by Japan's labor laws, yet The Asahi Shimbun refuses to recognize them as such and insists on treating them instead as freelance workers on independent contracts.

In clear violation of Japan's labor laws, the paper has refused them paid holidays as well as enrollment in unemployment and social insurance.

The Asahi Shimbun has proposed one-year renewable contracts for these workers, but on the condition that renewals are limited to only four, meaning workers lose their jobs after five years.

The IHT/Asahi Employees Union has demanded that the paper recognize these Japanese workers as laborers and respect their rights in compliance with Japan's labor laws.

After six months of stalling, the paper proposed an individual freelance contract to the union president, Ms. Chie Matsumoto, and full-time contracts with benefits to other members, with the above-mentioned stipulation that renewals be limited to four.

We reject the paper's proposals. It is time The Asahi Shimbun stopped hiring workers on fixed-term contracts and recognized all its staff as full-fledged laborers.

And now, the company has forced these workers out: Faced with signing the five-year limited contract, they chose not to sign. So they were told to leave! This is an outrageous way to treat these skilled professional bilingual translators and writers.

Considering how long such employees have already worked at The Asahi Shimbun—some for eight or more years—if they sign that limited contract, they would have to leave in five years. We can't help but wonder if it is Asahi Shimbun's intention to bust this union.

The Asahi Shimbun's editorial line is that labor unions ought to attract part-time workers and keep up with the times.

Yet the paper ignores labor law and denies its workers social and unemployment insurance while treating union members, who work full regular schedules, as freelancers. The company is shirking its obligations as an employer.

This is unacceptable, particularly considering the social responsibility The Asahi Shimbun has as a medium of public opinion.

We believe The Asahi Shimbun must abandon its two-faced policy—which it has openly admitted during collective bargaining talks—of championing labor unions in the paper's editorials while working against its own union.

The paper should live up to its editorial policy claims and treat its nonregular workers with basic decency and according to Japanese labor laws.

1. Meet our demands in good faith.
2. Stop taking aside individual union members to discuss new contract terms until it reaches an official labor agreement with the union.
3. End the practice of limiting contracts to a year and remove the four-renewal cap.
4. Offer the union president a full-time regular contract in line with the position she has held for years at the company.
5. Recognize its obligations for having treated its nonregular workers as freelancers even though they work full time as laborers, and apply all relevant labor laws retroactively.