Tokyo---Japan's push to take away overtime from high-paid workers has critics warning it will aggravate a problem synonymous with the country's notoriously long working hours -- karoshi, or death from overwork.
Teruyuki Yamashita knows the risks all too well. The now 53-year-old worked day and night in a senior sales job, made countless overseas business trips, and slept an average of just three hours a night.
Six years ago, his frantic work pace took a near fatal turn after he collapsed from a subarachnoid haemorrhage, a type of brain bleeding, leading to three weeks in intensive care -- and the loss of his sight.
"I told a nurse that it was dark -- I didn't realise that I was blind," Yamashita said, recalling when he woke up in hospital.
Hundreds of deaths related to overwork -- from strokes, heart attacks and suicide -- are reported every year in Japan, along with a host of serious health problems, sparking lawsuits and calls to tackle the problem.
But, last month, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet approved a bill to exempt white-collar employees earning over 10.75 million yen ($88,000) a year, such as financial dealers and consultants, from work-hour rules.
His ruling Liberal Democratic Party hopes to get parliamentary approval during the current session.
Advocates, including Japan's biggest business lobby Keidanren, say the changes would reward productive workers with pay based on merit -- rather than just working hours -- and give them more flexibility in terms of how long they spend at the office.
If they get the job done quickly, they could leave early or come in later, they say.
Backers also say the reforms would not force change on workers, but rather let them choose to enter such an agreement with their employers.
- 'Accelerate deaths' -
Critics charge it would be tough for employees to refuse an offer of switching to the new model, and deride it as the "no overtime pay bill" that would force people to work longer with no extra pay beyond their agreed salary.
That could increase the number of overwork-related deaths and health problems, said Koji Morioka, professor emeritus at Kwansei Gakuin University.
"The government wants to create a system in which companies don't have to pay for overtime -- it could accelerate deaths from overwork," he said.
Morioka added that the bill seemed to run counter to the spirit of a law passed last summer aimed at preventing deaths from long working hours, which garnered wide support across party lines. Details of the bill are being worked out now.
AFP
