Mitsubishi Motors Corp. made foreign technical trainees from the Philippines work on tasks other than those for which they were originally authorized, a practice prohibited by the law establishing procedures to accept trainees.
Since the company was shaken by a scandal over its manipulation of mileage data and the other issues, questions over its corporate compliance are expected to be raised again.
According to the company, one of its vehicle production bases, the Okazaki plant in Okazaki, Aichi Prefecture, has accepted 65 trainees since 2016 who were introduced by Hiroshima-based cooperative association Friend Nippon (FN), which provides education in the Philippines. For 33 of them, the company compiled a training plan to master welding techniques, and the trainees obtained a status of residence in the country based on the plan.
There are, however, few tasks to meet for mastering the technique, because welding operations at the plant are mechanized. Therefore, the plant asked them to do work not covered by the plan, such as assembling car bodies.
According to the company, a worker who is in charge on-site at the plant understood incorrectly that there was no problem if trainees worked at a place different from their original assignment, as long as they passed technical tests under the direction of the company. Although FN gave the plant notice on this point in January this year, the plant failed to report the situation to Mitsubishi headquarters.
The company has paid trainees at the same level as the minimum wage in the prefecture. However, an executive at Mitsubishi Motors said, "We did not have any intention to make low-paid foreign trainees work," pointing to the relatively low number of just 33 trainees involved.
Previous revelations of misconduct at Mitsubishi Motors include covering up recalls on a massive scale in 2000 and 2004, and manipulation of mileage data to make its vehicles appear more fuel-efficient than they actually were in 2016.
Following the repeated misconduct, the company opened an educational facility for its employees at the plant in March.
Mitsubishi Motors issued a comment, saying, "It is regrettable that such a way of working lacks a sense of compliance."
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