Industries and services that operate at the expense of the health and livelihoods of workers are not sustainable and should not be maintained as they are.

The overtime regulations for truck drivers that are to be introduced in April should be enforced without fail, and this regulatory change should serve as an opportunity to address their low wages.

The government also needs to strengthen its monitoring of trucking businesses to ensure that shippers are paying appropriate freight rates.

From the new fiscal year, which starts in April, an overtime limit for automobile driving work will be introduced at 960 hours per year.

For workers in other industries, the annual limit has been 720 hours since fiscal 2020, meaning that the regulatory change for drivers has been delayed by four years, and the limit is higher.

An average of 80 hours per month is the same as the “karoshi line” (the overwork death line), a term that refers to the number of overtime hours per month that are considered to be a high risk for health problems. This is clearly the minimum level of regulation.

One-third of the cases where a worker's brain or heart disease is officially recognized to be a work-related health problem involve truck and other drivers. These health issues are said to be deeply linked to long working hours.

The number of accidents resulting in deaths or serious injuries in light truck transportation has doubled in the past six years. Although the impact of the new overtime curb for drivers is raising concerns as the "2024 problem" in the trucking industry, protecting drivers should naturally be the top priority.

While the working hours of drivers are 20 percent longer compared to the average of all industries, their income is 10 percent lower. Among drivers, there is also a concern that take-home pay may decrease due to the overtime restriction.

To protect the health and livelihoods of drivers, it is necessary to achieve a significant hike in their wages this spring.

For this purpose, shippers using trucking services must be willing to accept more appropriate levels of freight rates, which will be the source of wages.

The government started a system four years ago to show region-specific “standard freight rates" with the improvement of drivers' working conditions in mind. This spring, the rates will be raised by 8 percent.

However, many transportation companies are small and midsize enterprises and are in a disadvantageous position in negotiations with shippers and primary contractors.

In surveys comparing standard freight rates and actual rates set through contracts, more than half of the actual rates were below 70 percent of the standards.

Under the “multiple-tiered subcontracting” structure, primary contractors and subcontractors often charge fees in outsourcing further to a lower-tier subcontractor.

There are also many unfair business practices rampant in the industry, such as being forced to work without a contract or to do tasks not included in the contract, such as putting products on shelves.

The transport ministry’s "Truck G-men,” a task force to monitor shippers and primary contractors for unfair business practices, the Fair Trade Commission, and the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency need to collaborate and keep a close watch to ensure smaller trucking businesses are paid fairly.

The government has also submitted a bill to the current regular session of the Diet that regulates shippers and primary contractors of transportation.

The bill mandates the development of plans to streamline logistics and imposes penalties on firms that are failing to make sufficient efforts.

In fact, waiting times for loading and unloading cargo can extend for several hours, and trucks are using only 40 percent of their capacity on average in carrying cargo.

Companies using trucking services should ask themselves whether they have been neglecting to invest in facilities and equipment and to make serious efforts to improve operations as they have relied on low wages and long working hours at low-tier subcontractors.

With the normalization of freight rates, companies using trucking services should also start making serious efforts for higher efficiency, such as joint transportation with other businesses.

Consumers, for their part, must also understand that services come with corresponding costs, without taking for granted redelivery, "free shipping," or zero out-of-stock inconveniences at stores.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 1