UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (Through Translator) Companies like TEPCO have big projects, but they don't want to guarantee employment or provide security or welfare benefits. One local labor organizer spoke about this on the condition that we not use his name. KUHN: Critics accuse the subcontractors of withholding workers' hazard pay and barring them from organizing unions or speaking to the media. NAWATA: (Through Translator) Soon, the experienced workers will not be able to work anymore, so there will be more inexperienced workers and very few experienced workers to direct them. KUHN: He says companies supplying labor to TEPCO are having difficulty hiring good workers because the pay is low, the work is dangerous, and there are limits to how much radiation each worker can absorb on the job. Because of this system of multiple contractors, they can't give direct orders to the frontline workers. KAZUMITSU NAWATA: (Through Translator) When there's an accident, they can't react properly. Tokyo University professor Kazumitsu Nawata has warned for years that the subcontracting leads to a weak chain of command. But analysts warn that it's affecting the quality of the work at Fukushima. In Japan, subcontracting out construction and other big projects is a longstanding practice. So about 100 out of the 4,000 people working in the plant every day are TEPCO employees. Public relations officers with the plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Corporation, or TEPCO, showed me around. They were building huge metal containers to store contaminated water. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: (Foreign language spoken)ĪNTHONY KUHN, BYLINE: On a tour of the Fukushima plant last month, I saw a lot of workers in white coveralls, respirators and safety helmets. And the technical difficulties involved in closing the facility are compounded by serious labor issues. The cleanup is ongoing and has been problematic, with power failures and leaks of contaminated water. It also triggered the meltdown of reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Three years ago today, a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan killed thousands of people.
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