What Is KAROSHI?

I ran across an interesting article in the newspaper.

KAROSHI is a Japanese term for death by too much work. The problem is highlighted by the following reactions:

• a national hotline to report it
• self help books to handle it
• a law to funnel money to the widow and kids of someone who dies for the good(??) of the company they work for if they die of overwork.

A ruling in the Aichi prefecture by the Labour Bureau ruled that a 45 year old man died of too much work. In the six months before his death of heart failure he was putting in up to 114 hours a month of overtime.

Does overtime kill? Hard to say for sure, but...

According to the Japanese government's 2007 statistics on claims for death and disability, of the 2207 work-related suicides, the most common reason in 672 cases was listed as overwork.

It is a wonder that when there is paid work available that we are still trying to convince the employer that we need more members to be full time.

In solidarity, Emidio.