LABOUR-JAPAN:
Brazilian Japanese Organize Against Joblessness
By Catherine Makino
TOKYO (IPS) - Rodney Freitas, 24, is happy to see Brazilians
of Japanese descent organising themselves at time when Japan’s
economy is cooling down and many are in danger of losing jobs or are
already unemployed.
"This is a good opportunity for Brazilians to go to the unions and
ask for help in solving their problems and learning their rights,"
says Frietas, a Brazilian Japanese himself. "No good going to the
factories for help because the Japanese system is not good."
Freitas believes that the best defence in the present situation is
‘’big gatherings’’ of the type that happened on Feb. 2 when some
1,500 Brazilians marched down the streets of Nagoya protesting
against job losses.
Men, women and children raised placards with slogans saying, "We
want to work," and "We want houses," and "We want education." Their
children, who marched with them, yelled, "We want to study."
Nagoya, one of the nation’s economic centres, is home to Toyota
Motor Corp., a major employer of foreign labour.
On the same day, to be heard where it matters, about 300 Brazilians
and their supporters marched through central Tokyo waving national
flags and chanting, "Give us employment,’’ "Don’t desert us," and
"We don’t have secure housing’’.
"It is the first time they [Brazilians] could meet others in the
same situation and share the same fears,’’ Naoko Shimizu, leader of
the Part-timers, Freeters and Foreign Workers’ Union, told IPS. (Freeter
is the Japanese term for young, part-time temporary worker).
"Sometimes the police stop us in unjust ways,’’ Shimizu said.
‘’However, we will continue to express ourselves through protests
and demonstrations,’’ she said.
A priority for the unions is to secure housing for members. One plan
is to buy up some of the many unoccupied apartment buildings in
Tokyo and offer them to workers at low rent. ‘’We will do it soon
since there will be many more layoffs in March,’’ Shimizu said.
Union members are anxious, Shimizu said. "When they do find a job
they receive low salaries, and can be fired anytime and be thrown
out of company dormitories. They're treated like disposable
workers.’’
Historically, because of its homogeneity, Japanese society has
viewed outsiders - even those with Japanese roots like most
Brazilians - with suspicion.
Brazilian Japanese do not have the protection that Japanese workers
do or have strong links within Japanese society to help them cope.
Most cannot speak Japanese or have the right skills to readily find
alternate jobs.
As long as the economy needed labourers, an estimated 320,000
Brazilians toiled in Japan, mostly at unskilled factory jobs. Many
were employed by the electronics industries or by automobile giants
like Suzuki, Honda and Toyota.
Last year manufacturers, who had hired Brazilians and other South
Americans as temporary hands at their factories, started cutting
jobs because of the deteriorating economy and the Japanese yen’s
rise against other currencies.
‘’The situation is hopeless,’’ says Evaristo Higa, a Brazilian
Catholic priest of Japanese ancestry who is involved with a food and
rescue mission for the unemployed.
"More than 50 percent of Brazilians are now unemployed, they don’t
have money to buy food or pay for their homes,’’ Higa told IPS.
"Some were forced out of company dormitories and had to find
homes... most can’t afford the rents.’’
‘’They say they are willing to take on jobs like working in nursing
homes for the elderly, but these are not easily available because of
the language barrier… and things can only get worse in the spring,’’
Higa said.
Reports say that many Brazilians migrants have started to return
home. But a survey conducted by Higa in December indicated that 70
percent preferred to stay on because the economy in Brazil is not
conducive to finding employment. "But, if you ask me in a month
maybe it will be different,’’ he said optimistically.
Many are worried for their children and say they cannot afford
school tuitions. As stop-gap Higa has organised volunteer groups to
educate the kids, "or else there's nothing for them to do but stay
home with their parents’’.
According to Louis Carlet of the National Union of General Workers,
the Brazilians are the easiest to fire because most of them do not
speak Japanese.
‘’There is a pecking order when it comes to firings. First, the
foreigners get fired, who are usually the Brazilians. Then Japanese
women, part-time workers and finally regular workers," Carlet said.
Brazilians form the third-largest foreign community - after Koreans
and Chinese - in Japan. Most are descendents of waves of Japanese
immigration to Brazil that began in 1908.
Encouraged by the Japanese government, which saw migration as a way
to relieve poverty and population pressures, nearly 200,000 had
arrived by the beginning of World War ll. An additional 63,000 came
in the postwar era.
Japan officially stopped sending migrants to Brazil in 1973. Today
there are 1.3 million Brazilians of Japanese descent living in
Brazil, forming the largest Japanese community living outside Japan.
In more recent decades, Brazil’s economic problems spurred a reverse
flow. Japanese Brazilians began emigrating to Japan in large numbers
after 1990 when Japan made it easier for foreigners of Japanese
descent to enter the country with a view to filling a shortage of
manual labour.
With growing pressures, such as the 'greying' of its population' the
Japanese government has been seeing the need to do more. On Jan. 9
it began a programme of helping foreign workers, especially
Brazilians, obtain permanent residence status, find jobs and avail
of Japanese language education for themselves and for their
children.
"The decision is welcome and we are working together to implement
these measures as soon as the measures are compiled," said an
official at the Brazilian Embassy asking not to be identified.
The official emphasised Brazil’s strong relations with Japan. "We
have excellent and traditional bilateral relations. Last year, for
example, we celebrated 100 years of the Japanese immigration to
Brazil, with many cultural and sport events."
Employers like Toyota have been pitching in to help young Brazilian
Japanese - especially when it makes business sense.
About eight years ago Toyota began a school in Haruhi, a small town
near Nagoya, where about 20 Brazilians are being taught in their
native Portuguese to become mechanics. They are beneficiaries of a
delicate act of business diplomacy that will help the automaker
expand into Brazil.
The year-long course prepares them to return to Brazil and work at
one of Toyota’s 125 sales outlets. "I have a chance to do something
with my life now,’’ said Antonio Takahanshi, 20, who is studying to
become a mechanic. ‘’It is more than the money.’’ |
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