English Lesson Log 068
Sales quotas exploit convenience store workers
Convenience stores provide many of us with a handy place to pop into 24 hours a day to buy things we have forgotten or didn’t have time to get from other stores. They also provide part-time jobs for thousands of people. A new report from Japan’s national broadcaster NHK, says overbearing and unrealistic sales quotas are being imposed on many part-time workers. Labor rights experts are calling on store bosses to stop what they deem to be an exploitative practice. There are reports of workers having hundreds of dollars deducted from their salaries and having to buy unsold stock for failing to meet the quotas.
An expert on Japanese labor law Professor Mitsumo Uematsu said deducting a quota’s worth of unsold products from salaries violated labor laws. He also questioned why so many part-timers felt compelled to buy unsold stock, which could be “seen as being forced to tale on an economic burden because of pressure from stores". Another said that workers can lose up to 20~30% of their monthly salary. The biggest losses come with quotas for unsold seasonal items like Valentines and Christmas goods and special sushi rolls.
handy place
便利、手軽な場所
pop into
立ち寄る
overbearing
高圧的な
imposed
課せられている
deem to be
みなす、思われる
exploitative
搾取的な
deducted
差し引く、控除する
for failing
失敗したため
to meet the quotas
ノルマを満たす
felt compelled to
やむを得ず～しないといけない、～を強制する
urged
強く～する
to tackle
取り組む
so that
drowning
溺れる
handy
useful
overbearing
高圧的な 、のしかかってくる
bullying
いじめる
imposed
forced
practice
method
meet
fulfill
expert
specialist
violated
breached
違反する
pressure
coercion
強制、抑圧、威圧
tackle
address
goods
merchandise
in order to ~
～のために
so that S. + V.
～するように
essential items
必需品、不可欠なもの
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