Total Victory for Zenchuro: No Choice But To Revise SOFA

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/239576/total-victory-for-zenchuro-no-choice-but-to-revise-sofa/

Total Victory for Zenchuro: No Choice But To Revise SOFA
Okinawa Times, Japan
By Editorial
Translated By Stephanie Sanders
25 May 2014
Edited by Sean Feely

~snip~

In a lawsuit from 176 members of the union’s Okinawa district against their employer’s country, demanding approximately ¥4.1 million, together with unpaid wages and “additional fees,” the Naha district court fully recognized the claim of the All Japan Garrison Forces Labor Union (Zenchuro), ruling it unjust that paid holidays taken for the strike were rendered as unpaid. The court ordered the United States to pay the full amount, including the “additional fees,” a civil penalty based on the Labor Standards Act. It is a total victory for Zenchuro.

Taking paid vacation days is a worker’s right, established by the Labor Standard Law. The time of year and the reason the vacation days are taken are also at the employee’s discretion. The ruling expressly recognized that the vacation days taken for the strike are “within the bounds of paid vacation, and are not unlawful.”

On the other hand, employers have the right to change the time of year that employees can take vacation days. Before the strike, the United States communicated that it could not approve of the U.S. military’s practice of not allowing vacation days without exercising its right to change the time of year for paid leave. The United States expressed concern about the U.S. military’s policy.

In the middle of the trial, the United States withdrew its claim that the U.S. military was exercising its right to change the time of year for paid leave. The U.S. will have to pay the wages, but hereafter countries that do not pay salaries will be attacked with this court ruling.