Outside Workers - Shagaiko

In the subcontracting system of large Japanese companies, the term refers to workers of subcontracted companies who are directly employed to complete products or perform work within the parent company's premises. Outside workers are a type of indirect employment (an employment form in which a third party is between the employer who gives instructions to the worker and the worker), and were widely used in mines, construction sites, and factories before World War II as a group contract system (labor supply business). The Employment Security Law enacted in 1947 (Showa 22) prohibited labor supply businesses (indirect employment) from the perspective of eliminating forced labor and middleman exploitation, so directly employed temporary workers were used exclusively. With the revision of the Enforcement Regulations of the Employment Security Law in 1952, restrictions on labor supply businesses were relaxed, and indirect employment was revived as the outside worker system, and in the 1960s, outside workers replaced temporary workers as the main non-regular employment in the steel and petrochemical industries and shipbuilding industries. The benefits to parent companies of utilizing outside workers, in addition to being able to avoid the struggles of temporary workers seeking to be promoted to permanent employees, include: (1) unlike regular employees (permanent employees) and temporary workers, outside workers do not have a direct employment relationship with the parent company, so they do not have to fulfill employer responsibilities and are exempt from the burden of recruitment costs, welfare expenses, and so on, and can make widespread use of low-wage labor; and (2) when the economy fluctuates, employment adjustments can be made easily, making it easier to avoid pressure from the labor movement against layoffs.

In the past, the work of outside workers was mostly in the areas surrounding the core processes that were not mechanized or automated, ancillary work, and transportation and maintenance work, but gradually outside workers were introduced into the core processes as well. Modern steelworks are using outside workers in equal or greater numbers than regular workers. Today, the increasing number of temporary and contract workers on the production lines of the automobile and electrical machinery sectors is a new form of outside workers.

[Goga Kazumichi]

"Japan's Outside Workers System" by Itozono Tatsuo (1978, Minerva Shobo)" ▽ "Modern Japanese Steel Labor Issues" edited by Michimata Kenjiro (1978, Hokkaido University Press) ▽ "Modern Capitalism and the Problem of Unstable Employment" by Goga Kazumichi (1988, Ochanomizu Shobo) ▽ "Labor Organization and Skills Development in the Steel Industry" by Kimura Yasushige et al. (2008, Ochanomizu Shobo)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

日本の大企業の下請制度のうち、親企業の構内において製品の完成または作業の遂行に直接充用される下請企業の労働者をいう。社外工は間接雇用（労働者を指揮命令して就業させる使用者と労働者の間に第三者が介在する雇用形態）の一つで、第二次世界大戦前は組請負制（人夫供給業）として鉱山、建設現場、工場で広範に活用されていた。1947年（昭和22）に制定された職業安定法は、強制労働や中間搾取の排除の視点から労働者供給事業（間接雇用）を禁止したため、直接雇用の臨時工がもっぱら利用された。1952年の職業安定法施行規則の改定によって労働者供給事業の規制が緩和されたのに伴い、間接雇用は社外工制として復活し、1960年代に入ると、鉄鋼業や石油化学工業などの装置産業や造船業では、臨時工にかわって社外工が非正規雇用の主役となった。親企業にとって社外工を活用するメリットには、正社員への登用を求める臨時工の闘争を回避できることに加えて、(1)社外工は本工（正社員）や臨時工と異なり、親企業とは直接的雇用関係がないため、使用者責任を果たすことなく、また募集費、福利厚生費などの負担を免れ、低賃金労働を広く利用できること、(2)景気変動の際、容易に雇用調整でき、解雇に対する労働運動の圧力を回避しやすいこと、などがある。

　社外工の担当作業は、かつては基幹工程周辺の機械化・自動化されない部署、付帯作業、運輸・整備作業などが大部分であったが、しだいに基幹工程へも社外工が導入されるようになった。新鋭製鉄所では、本工と同数またはそれを上回る規模で、社外工が活用されている。今日、自動車・電機部門の製造ラインで増加している派遣労働者や請負労働者は社外工の新たな形態である。

［伍賀一道］

『糸園辰雄著『日本の社外工制度』（1978・ミネルヴァ書房）』▽『道又健治郎編著『現代日本の鉄鋼労働問題』（1978・北海道大学図書刊行会）』▽『伍賀一道著『現代資本主義と不安定就業問題』（1988・御茶の水書房）』▽『木村保茂他著『鉄鋼業の労働編成と能力開発』（2008・御茶の水書房）』

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