Embassy in Japan provides support for workers with owed wages

In early December, dozens of Vietnamese workers gathered at the headquarters of the Nekuseru employment agency in Chiba prefecture to demand payment for their September and October wages.

Upon discovering the incident, Phan Tien Hoang, first secretary and head of Labour Management at the Vietnamese Embassy in Japan, travelled to Chiba to work with the Vietnamese workers, representatives of Nekuseru and the company recruiting Vietnamese workers, and authorised agencies from Toyota city in Aichi prefecture.

Hoang noted that approximately 150 Vietnamese workers are owed wages by Nekuseru, and representatives from the Vietnamese embassy have worked with the Toyota Labour Standards Inspection Office, which is responsible for addressing labour-related issues.

According to the response from local authorities, as of the time the embassy representatives worked with Toyota city, the owner of Nekuseru had not declared bankruptcy and was still operating. Therefore, authorities had no legal grounds to address the case. In the event that Nekuseru declares bankruptcy, the prefecture’s administration will freeze the company's bank accounts to partially pay workers' wages first. If the account funds are insufficient, it will activate a government debt payment scheme.

The embassy representative guided the Vietnamese workers in submitting applications to Japanese authorities, requesting government-backed wage compensation due to Nekuseru’s prolonged non-payment. Officials from Chiba prefecture formally received these applications. Based on the submitted requests, authorities will require Nekuseru to proceed with debt repayment procedures.

The Vietnamese workers with owed wages had come to Japan under engineer, technician, and interpreter visas and were directly recruited from Vietnam. These workers were employed by Nekuseru, which then dispatched them to other Japanese companies under labour leasing agreements. The companies hiring workers from Nekuseru did not pay the workers directly but instead transferred their wages to Nekuseru, which was responsible for paying the workers.

The Labour Management Board has provided rice for the Vietnamese workers to help them overcome the current difficulties, and requested Chiba prefecture and Toyota city to implement specific and practical support measures for the Vietnamese workers facing hardship due to unpaid wages.