Technical intern trainee tells of low pay at wage council meeting
A Myanmar woman working in a technical intern training program in Japan called for a 'significant increase in the minimum wage' at a Regional Minimum Wages Council meeting held in Fukuoka on July 31.
According to the labor ministry, this was the first time that a technical intern trainee has testified at a Minimum Wages Council meeting.
The woman highlighted the wage disparity between foreign technical trainees and Japanese nationals performing the same work.
She spoke at the meeting at the encouragement of Union Kita-Kyushu, a regional labor union.
The union recommended that she explain the situation facing technical intern trainees, who don't have the freedom to change jobs and can be forced to work for low wages.
The 24-year-old woman from Myanmar works at a nursing home in Kita-Kyushu.
In the council meeting, she explained that she has to repay around 1 million yen ($6,640) in debt to the dispatch company acting as a broker in Myanmar, and she also has to send money to her family back home.
She said she works for the minimum wage in the prefecture, which allows her to send between 100,000 and 150,000 yen to her family each month, and lives on the remaining 50,000 yen per month.
'None of my Japanese coworkers work for just the minimum wage,' she said, pointing out the current situation that runs contrary to the equal pay for equal work concept.
She added, 'If the minimum wage increased to 1,500 yen, I would have 100,000 yen a month after sending money to my country. I could use it for my personal needs or to study for my future.'
According to this woman, she was forced to drop out of her university after studying for three years because of the military coup in Myanmar and her father losing his job. She had to start working.
She has been a fan of Japanese anime since high school. She also studied Japanese, so she came to Japan in the spring of 2023 as a technical intern trainee.
After the council meeting, she told reporters that, 'I was really nervous, but it was good to offer opinions on behalf of those in the same situation.'
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