Naganuma
Naganuma is a subcontractor of Sanyo that makes air conditioner parts.
It employs 221 people, 96 of them Brazilians, who work on short term contracts.
A short term contract can be as short as one month. This is common, specially,
in the summers when workers are not in demand. Since the summer season is
slow and a lot of people get laid off, one month contract laborers works
perfectly. The summer is a slow season because, by then, the air conditioners
should be ready to be sold on the market.
At this factory, robots did most of the bending and shaping of metal
parts while humans did most of the welding and assembling. The noise in
the area where welding was done was as irritating as finger nails scratching
on a blackboard, and the smell was equally unpleasant. The welding stations
had three to four workers on one machine, each assembling a different part
on the same object, while stations that required screwing and assembling
of parts had one worker per machine.
Performing actual interviews with the workers was impossible, since we
were told by our tour guide, a young Japanese man, that we could talk to
the workers only for two or three minutes each. We were not to distract
the workers from performing their duties for too long. Our tour guide seemed
quite nervous to have us in the factory and wanted to get us through the
tour as quickly as possible. We were also told not to take pictures of the
work area. Some of us were under the impression that we were probably the
first group of foreigners to visit the factory. After having quick conversations
with about sixteen people, we found that most of the men went to Japan through
brokers while women went on their own or with their husbands, without the
help of a broker. There was no distinction in the kinds of jobs performed
by Nikkei-Brazilians and Japanese. Most Brazilians who had worked
at other factories said they prefer their present job to the one they had
before.
During our discussion with the tour guide, we learned that one work shift lasted from 8 AM to 5 PM and that the minimum wage law in Japan applies to Nikkei-Brazilians. The minimum wage is about 410 yen per hour, but the people at Naganuma receive an hourly rate of 900 to 1200 yen. We also learned that men usually receive higher pay because they perform jobs that require duties such as heavy lifting. However, from our observations in the factory, men and women performed the same type of jobs.
Personal account of a factory worker