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Japan:
Gangster illegally hired workers for decontamination projects
Criminal
organizations are cashing in on the disaster that shook Japan nearly
two years ago by sinking their claws into all aspects of recovery
operations to skim off handsome profits.
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31
January, 2013
Police
have just turned up an instance of a gang member brazenly providing
laborers to help clean up contaminated areas in Fukushima Prefecture,
and pocketing part of their wages.
The
Yamagata prefectural police said 40-year-old Yoshinori Arai broke the
law because he did not have a license to dispatch day laborers.
Police
said Arai, a resident of Higashine, Yamagata Prefecture, is a top
member of a yakuza gang affiliated with leading crime syndicate
Sumiyoshi-Kai. He was arrested Jan. 31.
According
to an investigative source, Arai dispatched three day laborers to a
Yamagata Prefecture subcontractor doing decontamination work in Date
on 10 occasions in November. Their tasks included weeding.
It
also emerged that the workers took home only half of less than 20,000
yen ($220) in salary a day--suggesting that the difference was
pocketed by Arai and his mob associates.
Arai
was taken into custody earlier this month for a similar offense.
Police said he dispatched two laborers to assist in the construction
of temporary housing.
“The
recovery operations involve a lot of money, so they are a godsend for
gangs that have trouble making money due to a police crackdown on
gang activities,” a gang insider said.
The
man said these groups have been involved in the demolition of
buildings and the disposal of waste in devastated areas. He also said
some of them have been working as bouncers for restaurants and bars
in the Tohoku region by offering lower rates than those demanded by
local gangs.
Law
enforcement authorities have been on alert against organized crime
groups cashing in on recovery operations after the 2011 Great East
Japan Earthquake that spawned towering tsunami and triggered the
nuclear disaster.
Police
have detected 37 cases so far, but this is the first arrest over a
gang member's suspected involvement in decontamination work
Fukushima decontamination faces severe labor shortages
30
January, 2013
FUKUSHIMA
(Jiji Press)--Fukushima Prefecture is facing severe labor shortages
for decontamination work following the 2011 nuclear crisis.
The
shortage stems from radiation fears and low pay. According to the
labor ministry's Fukushima Labor Bureau, only about 10 percent of
about 1,800 decontanimation positions have been filled.
"Decontamination
work cannot continue," said a local contractor. Delays in
decontamination work are hampering efforts to rebuild the prefecture
devastated by the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami and the
subsequent crisis at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant.
"Many
people expect high wages for the work, because of radiation fears,"
said Shunichi Hirotani, an official at the Hello Work public job
placement center for the northern part of the prefecture.
"In
reality, the wages are about the same as those for regular
construction work," Hirotani said.
At
the job placement center, the lowest monthly wages offered for
decontamination work in November averaged 190,000 yen, about 20,000
yen higher than the figure for the general construction industry in
the area.
The
highest wages for decontamination work averaged 260,000 yen, compared
with 250,000 yen for the industry as a whole.
The
basic labor cost for decontamination work is the same as that for
general civil engineering work, said Shinji Kato, president of Sato
Kogyo Ltd., a construction company based in Fukushima.
"Japan’s
long-moribund economy has spawned a new breed of jobless and
homeless people dubbed “makudo nanmin,” or refugees at
McDonald’s."
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