Charles Weathers
Biographic Data
| ID | 284473 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Charles Weathers |
| GIVEN NAMES | Charles |
| FAMILY NAME | Weathers |
| SIGNATURE | WEATHERS C |
| AFFILIATIONS | Osaka City University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7490-8842 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1992 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Litigating Equal Pay for Equal Work in Japan, 2012-2020
Litigation and courts have been important arbiters of labour policy reforms aimed at redressing Japan's growing social inequality. This article considers seven lawsuits brought by non-regular workers, who sought to use Article 20 of the 2012 Labour Contracts Act to gain equal pay for equal work. All seven cases reached Japan's Supreme Court amid Abe Shinzō's 2018 labour reforms. The Court's interpretations reaffirmed employer discretion in catego…
Diversities of neoliberalism
This article explores variations of neoliberal policymaking in the United States and Japan, utilizing a comparative examination of labor-related policymaking under the current Abe Shinzo and Donald Trump Administrations, and focusing on three policy areas: the nexus of wage setting and tax policy, work hours, and public employment. The institutional analysis emphasizes that both countries have histories of neoliberal practice, especially in favor…
Dōitsu rōdō dōitsu chingin’ no subete (All about ‘Equal Work for Equal Pay’)
Mizumachi Yūichirō, a professor at the University of Tokyo, is well-known as a (or possibly the) major mover behind the government’s Equal Work for Equal Pay policy (Asahi Shimbun 2017), so All about ‘Equal Work for Equal Pay’ has attracted a fair bit of attention from labor lawyers and other practitioners. The topic is far from small. Glaring differences in pay and treatment, especially between regular and non-regular workers and between men and…
Enter the Workers
This report surveys five recent books regarding childcare practice in Japan. While the shortage of good-quality licensed childcare has been an important issue for years, a major shift has occurred in that the poor treatment of childcare workers is now drawing attention. However, the authors find that pressure to hold down costs and end private sector participation will make it difficult to improve employment conditions or maintain quality of care…
Yokohama Street Life
Tom Gill's Yokohama Street Life is a lively exploration of the life and times of a day laborer who carved out a life devoted largely to reading the likes of Emanuel Swedenborg, Roland Barthes, Maur
Abe Shinzō's Campaign to Reform the Japanese Way of Work
Prime Minister Abe Shinzō has made Work Style Reform (hatarakikata kaikaku) part of his core policy agenda, promising above all to remedy the Japanese way of work's two greatest problems: dangerously long work hours and grossly unequal wage gaps between regular and non-regular workers. However, critics charge that the proposals will likely aggravate these problems, given that labor policymaking is dominated by conservative business and political …
Reformer or Destroyer? Hashimoto Toru and Populist Neoliberal Politics in Japan
At his peak, the exceptional political performance skills and distinctive political program of Hashimoto Tōru made him Japan’s most popular, and potentially most influential, politician. This article describes his meteoric political career as a classic case of Japanese-style populist neoliberalism, featuring populist criticism of unions and public sector employees, neoliberal market-oriented policymaking, and comprehensive regional restructuring.…
Equal Opportunity for Japanese Women - What Progress
Career opportunities have improved greatly for many Japanese women in recent years. More large companies are willing to hire them as career-track employees, and their share of elite civil servant positions has been growing. Although female students at my institution, Osaka City University, still encounter discrimination during the job hunt, they have actually outperformed men in recent job searches. A survey of the top 74 universities confirms th…
Interview with Charles Weathers and Scott North
Nonregular Workers and Inequality in Japan
Inequality and the rapid growth of the nonregular work force have become major social concerns in Japan over the past decade. The number of nonregular employees has risen rapidly, through economic growth and slump alike, since the early 1990s. New government figures put the proportion of nonregular workers at 37.8%, second only to the Netherlands among advanced democracies. During the same period, the poverty rate has grown alarmingly as well and…
Overtime Activists Take on Corporate Titans
Japan’s long work hours generate high human and economic costs. Even between 2002 and 2008, when Japan enjoyed a growing economy, the media regularly reported cases of workers felled by strokes and heart attacks or driven to depression or suicide by unrelenting job demands. Work hours are a major impediment to equal opportunity, since working mothers cannot devote the long hours expected of professional employees and so must opt for low-paying, l…
Shuntō and the shackles of competitiveness
Shuntō (spring wage struggle), Japan's yearly wage setting institution, until recently played an important role in linking wage raises for low-end earners to those of major firm employees, thus promoting social equity. Following the breakdown of wage linking mechanisms around 1995–2002, unions are presently seeking to revive shuntō by pursuing a variety of new approaches. These include campaigns on behalf of small-firm and non-regular workers, an…
The End of Overtime Pay
Seeking a "21st-century way of working" that promotes increased labor productivity and "diverse work styles," Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has issued a report recommending major changes to work hour regulations. The centerpiece of the proposal is an exemption from overtime pay for white-collar workers
In Search of Strategic Partners
Although advocates of equal opportunity in Japan have recently achieved significant policy-making gains, including the strengthening of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law in 1997, progress toward greater workplace gender equality remains hampered by the weakness of ‘strategic partnerships’ among actors such as national bureaucrats and women's rights activists. Using interviews with participants and expert observers, this paper explores Japan's …
Temporary workers, women and labour policy-making in Japan
This case study of the making of theRevised Temporary Worker Law (1999)seeks to update our understanding of the labour policy-making process. The analysis indicates that government officials continue to play an effective role in guiding new labour legislation to enactment, but that the policy-making process is better suited to deregulation (liberalization) of employment practices than to reform of fundamental problems, such as the low status of n…
Work-sharing
Journal Article Work‐sharing: Serious Initiative, or Japan's Latest Economic Panacea? Get access Charles Weathers Charles Weathers He can be reached by e‐mail at [email protected]‐cu.ac.jp Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Science Japan Journal, Volume 6, Issue 1, 1 April 2003, Pages 105–111, https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/6.1.105 Published: 01 April 2003
Atypical' and 'Irregular' Labour in Contemporary Japan
Changing White-collar Workplaces and Female Temporary Workers in Japan
This paper investigates the effects of change in Japan's employment system on women workers by examining the temporary services industry. It emphasizes the relationship between business practices and workplace conditions. Almost 90% of registered temporary workers in Japan are women. Most are aged between 25 and 35 and are engaged primarily in office work. Research, based largely on interviews with managers and co‐ordinators in temporary service …
The last gasp of labor's dual strategy? Japan's 1997 wage-setting round
Japan's mainstream (co-operative) unions in the 1970s adopted a so-called dual strategy, by which they exercisewage restraint in order to protect jobs but also participate in economic policy making to help raiseworkers' realwages and living standards.The prolonged economic slump of the 1990s, however, brought the strategy into question as real incomes stagnated.This article scrutinizes the dual strategy, focusing on wage setting, through an exami…
The 1999 Shunto and the Restructuring of Japan's Wage System
Research Article| November 01 1999 The 1999 Shunto and the Restructuring of Japan's Wage System Charles Weathers Charles Weathers Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1999) 39 (6): 960–985. https://doi.org/10.2307/3021148 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions …
Reconstruction of Labor-Management Relations in Japan's National Railways
Research Article| July 01 1994 Reconstruction of Labor-Management Relations in Japan's National Railways Charles Weathers Charles Weathers Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1994) 34 (7): 621–633. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645372 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Sear…
Restructuring labour unions in Japan's National Railways
Overtime Activists Take on Corporate Titans
Japan’s long work hours generate high human and economic costs. Even between 2002 and 2008, when Japan enjoyed a growing economy, the media regularly reported cases of workers felled by strokes and heart attacks or driven to depression or suicide by unrelenting job demands. Work hours are a major impediment to equal opportunity, since working mothers cannot devote the long hours expected of professional employees and so must opt for low-paying, l…
Temporary workers, women and labour policy-making in Japan
This case study of the making of theRevised Temporary Worker Law (1999)seeks to update our understanding of the labour policy-making process. The analysis indicates that government officials continue to play an effective role in guiding new labour legislation to enactment, but that the policy-making process is better suited to deregulation (liberalization) of employment practices than to reform of fundamental problems, such as the low status of n…
Litigating Equal Pay for Equal Work in Japan, 2012-2020
Litigation and courts have been important arbiters of labour policy reforms aimed at redressing Japan's growing social inequality. This article considers seven lawsuits brought by non-regular workers, who sought to use Article 20 of the 2012 Labour Contracts Act to gain equal pay for equal work. All seven cases reached Japan's Supreme Court amid Abe Shinzō's 2018 labour reforms. The Court's interpretations reaffirmed employer discretion in catego…
Shuntō and the shackles of competitiveness
Shuntō (spring wage struggle), Japan's yearly wage setting institution, until recently played an important role in linking wage raises for low-end earners to those of major firm employees, thus promoting social equity. Following the breakdown of wage linking mechanisms around 1995–2002, unions are presently seeking to revive shuntō by pursuing a variety of new approaches. These include campaigns on behalf of small-firm and non-regular workers, an…
The last gasp of labor's dual strategy? Japan's 1997 wage-setting round
Japan's mainstream (co-operative) unions in the 1970s adopted a so-called dual strategy, by which they exercisewage restraint in order to protect jobs but also participate in economic policy making to help raiseworkers' realwages and living standards.The prolonged economic slump of the 1990s, however, brought the strategy into question as real incomes stagnated.This article scrutinizes the dual strategy, focusing on wage setting, through an exami…
The 1999 Shunto and the Restructuring of Japan's Wage System
Research Article| November 01 1999 The 1999 Shunto and the Restructuring of Japan's Wage System Charles Weathers Charles Weathers Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1999) 39 (6): 960–985. https://doi.org/10.2307/3021148 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions …
Reconstruction of Labor-Management Relations in Japan's National Railways
Research Article| July 01 1994 Reconstruction of Labor-Management Relations in Japan's National Railways Charles Weathers Charles Weathers Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1994) 34 (7): 621–633. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645372 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Sear…
Restructuring labour unions in Japan's National Railways
Restructuring labour unions in Japan's National Railways
Reconstruction of Labor-Management Relations in Japan's National Railways
Research Article| July 01 1994 Reconstruction of Labor-Management Relations in Japan's National Railways Charles Weathers Charles Weathers Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1994) 34 (7): 621–633. https://doi.org/10.2307/2645372 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Sear…
The 1999 Shunto and the Restructuring of Japan's Wage System
Research Article| November 01 1999 The 1999 Shunto and the Restructuring of Japan's Wage System Charles Weathers Charles Weathers Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar Asian Survey (1999) 39 (6): 960–985. https://doi.org/10.2307/3021148 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions …
Atypical' and 'Irregular' Labour in Contemporary Japan
Changing White-collar Workplaces and Female Temporary Workers in Japan
This paper investigates the effects of change in Japan's employment system on women workers by examining the temporary services industry. It emphasizes the relationship between business practices and workplace conditions. Almost 90% of registered temporary workers in Japan are women. Most are aged between 25 and 35 and are engaged primarily in office work. Research, based largely on interviews with managers and co‐ordinators in temporary service …
The last gasp of labor's dual strategy? Japan's 1997 wage-setting round
Japan's mainstream (co-operative) unions in the 1970s adopted a so-called dual strategy, by which they exercisewage restraint in order to protect jobs but also participate in economic policy making to help raiseworkers' realwages and living standards.The prolonged economic slump of the 1990s, however, brought the strategy into question as real incomes stagnated.This article scrutinizes the dual strategy, focusing on wage setting, through an exami…
Work-sharing
Journal Article Work‐sharing: Serious Initiative, or Japan's Latest Economic Panacea? Get access Charles Weathers Charles Weathers He can be reached by e‐mail at [email protected]‐cu.ac.jp Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Social Science Japan Journal, Volume 6, Issue 1, 1 April 2003, Pages 105–111, https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/6.1.105 Published: 01 April 2003
Temporary workers, women and labour policy-making in Japan
This case study of the making of theRevised Temporary Worker Law (1999)seeks to update our understanding of the labour policy-making process. The analysis indicates that government officials continue to play an effective role in guiding new labour legislation to enactment, but that the policy-making process is better suited to deregulation (liberalization) of employment practices than to reform of fundamental problems, such as the low status of n…
In Search of Strategic Partners
Although advocates of equal opportunity in Japan have recently achieved significant policy-making gains, including the strengthening of the Equal Employment Opportunity Law in 1997, progress toward greater workplace gender equality remains hampered by the weakness of ‘strategic partnerships’ among actors such as national bureaucrats and women's rights activists. Using interviews with participants and expert observers, this paper explores Japan's …
The End of Overtime Pay
Seeking a "21st-century way of working" that promotes increased labor productivity and "diverse work styles," Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has issued a report recommending major changes to work hour regulations. The centerpiece of the proposal is an exemption from overtime pay for white-collar workers
Shuntō and the shackles of competitiveness
Shuntō (spring wage struggle), Japan's yearly wage setting institution, until recently played an important role in linking wage raises for low-end earners to those of major firm employees, thus promoting social equity. Following the breakdown of wage linking mechanisms around 1995–2002, unions are presently seeking to revive shuntō by pursuing a variety of new approaches. These include campaigns on behalf of small-firm and non-regular workers, an…
Nonregular Workers and Inequality in Japan
Inequality and the rapid growth of the nonregular work force have become major social concerns in Japan over the past decade. The number of nonregular employees has risen rapidly, through economic growth and slump alike, since the early 1990s. New government figures put the proportion of nonregular workers at 37.8%, second only to the Netherlands among advanced democracies. During the same period, the poverty rate has grown alarmingly as well and…
Overtime Activists Take on Corporate Titans
Japan’s long work hours generate high human and economic costs. Even between 2002 and 2008, when Japan enjoyed a growing economy, the media regularly reported cases of workers felled by strokes and heart attacks or driven to depression or suicide by unrelenting job demands. Work hours are a major impediment to equal opportunity, since working mothers cannot devote the long hours expected of professional employees and so must opt for low-paying, l…
Interview with Charles Weathers and Scott North
Equal Opportunity for Japanese Women - What Progress
Career opportunities have improved greatly for many Japanese women in recent years. More large companies are willing to hire them as career-track employees, and their share of elite civil servant positions has been growing. Although female students at my institution, Osaka City University, still encounter discrimination during the job hunt, they have actually outperformed men in recent job searches. A survey of the top 74 universities confirms th…
Reformer or Destroyer? Hashimoto Toru and Populist Neoliberal Politics in Japan
At his peak, the exceptional political performance skills and distinctive political program of Hashimoto Tōru made him Japan’s most popular, and potentially most influential, politician. This article describes his meteoric political career as a classic case of Japanese-style populist neoliberalism, featuring populist criticism of unions and public sector employees, neoliberal market-oriented policymaking, and comprehensive regional restructuring.…
Enter the Workers
This report surveys five recent books regarding childcare practice in Japan. While the shortage of good-quality licensed childcare has been an important issue for years, a major shift has occurred in that the poor treatment of childcare workers is now drawing attention. However, the authors find that pressure to hold down costs and end private sector participation will make it difficult to improve employment conditions or maintain quality of care…
Yokohama Street Life
Tom Gill's Yokohama Street Life is a lively exploration of the life and times of a day laborer who carved out a life devoted largely to reading the likes of Emanuel Swedenborg, Roland Barthes, Maur
Abe Shinzō's Campaign to Reform the Japanese Way of Work
Prime Minister Abe Shinzō has made Work Style Reform (hatarakikata kaikaku) part of his core policy agenda, promising above all to remedy the Japanese way of work's two greatest problems: dangerously long work hours and grossly unequal wage gaps between regular and non-regular workers. However, critics charge that the proposals will likely aggravate these problems, given that labor policymaking is dominated by conservative business and political …
Dōitsu rōdō dōitsu chingin’ no subete (All about ‘Equal Work for Equal Pay’)
Mizumachi Yūichirō, a professor at the University of Tokyo, is well-known as a (or possibly the) major mover behind the government’s Equal Work for Equal Pay policy (Asahi Shimbun 2017), so All about ‘Equal Work for Equal Pay’ has attracted a fair bit of attention from labor lawyers and other practitioners. The topic is far from small. Glaring differences in pay and treatment, especially between regular and non-regular workers and between men and…
Diversities of neoliberalism
This article explores variations of neoliberal policymaking in the United States and Japan, utilizing a comparative examination of labor-related policymaking under the current Abe Shinzo and Donald Trump Administrations, and focusing on three policy areas: the nexus of wage setting and tax policy, work hours, and public employment. The institutional analysis emphasizes that both countries have histories of neoliberal practice, especially in favor…
Litigating Equal Pay for Equal Work in Japan, 2012-2020
Litigation and courts have been important arbiters of labour policy reforms aimed at redressing Japan's growing social inequality. This article considers seven lawsuits brought by non-regular workers, who sought to use Article 20 of the 2012 Labour Contracts Act to gain equal pay for equal work. All seven cases reached Japan's Supreme Court amid Abe Shinzō's 2018 labour reforms. The Court's interpretations reaffirmed employer discretion in catego…
Political science (16 works) · Economics (13 works) · Labor Movements and Unions (12 works) · Labour economics (11 works) · Law (10 works) · Employment and Welfare Studies (8 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (8 works) · Business (7 works) · Engineering (6 works) · Digital Economy and Work Transformation (5 works)