Essential services

It is ironic that the workers who are most responsible for ensuring our safety and well-being – including firefighters, police officers, paramedics, ambulance drivers and others – are often denied the basic workplace rights enjoyed by everyone else, including the right to free collective bargaining.

Japanese municipalities enact public contract ordinances to ensure working conditions

Feb08
map of Japan

In December 2011 the cities of Tama, Metropolitan Tokyo, and Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, enacted public contract ordinances, as a result of which there are now four municipalities in Japan with such ordinances. The others are the cities of Noda, Chiba Prefecture, and Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, which enacted public contract ordinances in September 2009 and December 2010, respectively. In addition, the establishment of public contract ordinances is under consideration in such municipalities as Kokubunji, Metropolitan Tokyo, and Sapporo, Hokkaido.