Fukushima workers sue TEPCO over pay

A number of workers of Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have sued Tokyo Electric (TEPCO) over unpaid hazard wages.

Two current and two former Fukushima workers filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, claiming TEPCO and its contractors failed to ensure that workers were paid promised hazard allowances.

“A year ago, Prime Minister [Shinzo] Abe told the world that Fukushima was under control. But that’s not the case,” Tsuguo Hirota, the lawyer coordinating the lawsuit, said.

“Workers are not getting promised hazard pay and skilled workers are leaving. It’s becoming a place for amateurs only, and that has to worry anyone who lives near the plant,” he added.

The lawsuit seeks the equivalent of nearly $600,000 in unpaid wages from the Tokyo Electric.

It demands that TEPCO or the Japanese government pay the some 6,000 people who have been working at the plant daily over the past two months. The workers claim that the subcontractors profit from the funds allocated for the decommissioning at the expense of worker wages.

This is the first time TEPCO has faced legal action from Fukushima nuclear plant workers over pay and working conditions.

The plant’s operator, TEPCO, has been struggling to handle the contaminated water problem since the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was hit by a massive earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, which inflicted heavy damage on the six-reactor plant. The cooling systems of the plant’s reactors were knocked out, leading to meltdowns and the release of radioactive material.

SZH/HJL