Message from the President Sep.2013

On August 20, 2013, “Study Group on Future Worker Dispatching System” of the Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare (MHLW) had released a study report. This study was conducted according to the supplementary resolution made in the Diet when the “Act for Securing the Proper Operation of Worker Dispatching Undertakings and Ensuring the Protection, etc. of Dispatched Workers" (Worker Dispatch Act) was amended in March 2012 which to “study shall be made on how dispatching period restriction and how the career up should be for the dispatch workers.” Therefore, results of this report will be discussed at the MHLW’s Labor Policy Council, an advisory council to Minister of Health Labor and Welfare, consisted by members from public interests, labor side, and dispatch business operator. Most of labor laws are discussed in this council before submitting to the Diet for approval. And it is expected that the bill will be submitted to the Diet as early as in 2014 ordinary session.

Although it is still a study report, it states that “period restriction on dispatching should be revised by changing classification for the restriction based on types of employment, indefinite or definite employment, instead of current classification by type of work, and remove restriction for indefinite employment. This corresponds to what the Nippon Engineering Outsourcing Association has been proposing. And it also correspond to what Meitec has been proposing for many years, “Even the type of work is dispatching, if the worker is employed indefinitely, restrictions applied to definite employment dispatching, which their employment is unstable, is unnecessary, and should be treated as same as other regular employment.” I think that acknowledgment of rationality of this thought in some range was a big forward step and meaningful.

Meitec claims that way of how the Meitec’s engineer works is a “New Way of Working.” And, in terms of what is old and what is new, I think it is consistent to the “change in employment policy” described in government’s draft for the Growth Strategy disclosed in June. In the Growth Strategy, present employment policy is defined as “employment stability” policy, an idea of sustaining employment at one employer as possible, but the strategy states that it should be “labor fluidity (realizing labor movement without unemployment)”, an idea of supporting employment shift to glowing field and revitalize the industries and realize stable employment. Way the Meitec engineer work is, Meitec protect their employment, and the engineers, while having axis of profession as engineer, they are place in growing fields where client would like to invest in for its own growth, and sometimes, not just changing clients, but would move across the different engineering fields. Therefore, we can say that Meitec business model is a pioneer in “labor fluidity.” And, since we are ahead of today’s era and society, we call our way of work as a “New Way of Working.”

It is not certain if the amendments to the Worker Dispatch Act will proceed as the Study Group Report. But the report contains what Meitec has been proposing for number of years, and has potential for our “New Way of Working” to be significantly recognized by the society. I would like Meitec employee to have solid understanding and pride that if the amendments are made accordingly, it will cause significant sensation to the Meitec’s business, temporary engineer staffing business, whole worker dispatching industry and future labor market.