" 東アニのパワハラと、ＬＧＢＴへの人権侵害", Jan 2021

[Japanese-to-English translation provided by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre.]

One day, an older director [at Toei Animation] suddenly became angry at Mr. A [another employee at the company ] for an ordinary feedback and began yelling at him without reason.

Toei Animation did not dismiss the older director, but rather Mr. A—who was on the receiving end of the yelling—from the project.

Mr. A, who could not accept that he had been removed from the project even though he was a victim, asked his supervisor for an explanation. The superior failed to provide an answer, only saying that the company “uses” animators by “fooling them” and that it “needs worker bees.” The supervisor further pressured Mr. A by threatening to fire him in order to keep him quiet.

…Toei Animation refuses to submit the necessary documents to begin collective bargaining. Its refusal to engage in dialogue with a labour union is frankly illegal. The Labour Relations Board has already begun investigating this matter.

Furthermore, a labour union representative who is participating in the negotiations uses a different name than their given name because of their gender identity…

However, Toei Animations has said, “Isn’t that a false name? Answer us with your real name.” It has also said, “If you don’t respond with your real name, we can’t establish a minimum level of trust to pursue a negotiation”…

We ask Toei Animation executives to engage with us in a constructive conversation to resolve these issues…