Photo/Illutration The municipal assembly of Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, has enacted an anti-harassment ordinance. (Shigehiro Saito)

While the private sector has taken a zero-tolerance approach to bullying and harassment at work, the same does not hold true in the realm of local politics, where power abuse is commonplace.

But local governments are gradually responding to shameful behavior on the part of local politicians toward their employees by enacting ordinances naming and shaming perpetrators.

The efforts seem to be paying off.

“Some assembly members consider us beneath them and treat us like their ‘servants,’” said a municipal official of Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture. “We just have to endure it in silence because we need their votes to get our bills passed.”

A survey of all 2,800 or so municipal employees in Kashiwa found that 157, or about 5 percent, had experienced bullying and harassment by assembly members. In addition, 316 of the municipal employees, or 11 percent, had witnessed acts of power harassment.

By type of abuse, 169 people suffered or witnessed acts of bullying such as being shouted at for trivial mistakes.

Cases also emerged of politicians throwing their weight around and threatening local government staffers when they didn’t meet their expectations. There were instances of staff being persistently and unreasonably reprimanded.

Sexual harassment was another concern, with 154 respondents reporting being asked if they were in relationships or told they should get married soon.

“Some politicians use strong language and adopt aggressive behavior toward local government staff because they are afraid of being seen by voters as too weak to get things done,” said Kazuhiko Hirose, a lecturer at the Graduate School of Governance Studies at Meiji University in Tokyo.

“And local government staff fear upsetting assembly members, whose votes they need to pass bills, which creates an unequal power balance between them,” Hirose added.

Kashiwa’s municipal assembly passed an anti-harassment ordinance in June.

Under the new regulation, wayward assembly members will be named and shamed. Assembly members who witness or hear about their colleagues harassing someone will be obliged to warn them to desist or report the matter to the chairperson.

The new rules had an immediate marked effect.

“I’ve heard that one assembly member is now using more respectful language,” said Kashiwa Mayor Kazumi Ota. “And more municipal employees are now saying ‘We don’t have to take it anymore.’”

“The new rules aim to prevent harassment from undermining the productivity of municipal government employees as well as to protect the human rights of victims,” said Norihito Tsumuraya, the chairman of the assembly.

Still, Japan has a long way to go to eliminate abuse from assemblies nationwide.

Despite the obvious benefits of such a regulation, only 31 of some 1,800 municipalities and prefectures across the country had enacted anti-harassment ordinances as of Sept. 1. Of the 31 ordinances, 28 include assembly members as those subject to them. 

(This article was written by Shigehiro Saito and Daijiro Honda.)

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