I ndications of deteriorating working conditions for Japanese workers are coming to light at workplaces across the nation as the result of a practice that has become a social issue: More and more manufacturing companies are bringing in contract workers (ukeoi) to have them work like temporary workers (haken) -- as if dispatched from staffing agencies -- but without haken benefits.

For laymen, the legal difference between these two types of workers is a bit hard to understand. But the practice not only is illegal and responsible for low wages -- usually about half or less of regular-employee wages -- but also leads to worker instability. Companies should quit the habit, and the labor standards inspection offices should crack down on violators.

In normal contract work, contractors provide their own equipment and have their workers produce products for which customer companies have placed orders. But these days some contractors just send their workforce to the factories or offices of customer manufacturing companies, which instruct and supervise the workers as if they were their own employees -- using them to manufacture products or perform services. Since these workers are technically employed by contractors, customer companies should give them the same rights and privileges as workers dispatched from agencies. But they do not.