``Annual income less than 2.5 million yen'' Children's center appeals ``crisis'' of public facilities February 10, 19:31
"Suddenly, my salary is 115,000 yen
, annual income does not reach 2.5 million."
This post was retweeted 14,000 times.
This is a compelling complaint from a woman in her 40s who is the director of a children's center in a government-designated city.
Now that child-rearing support is a major social issue, why is the salary level of the head of the children's center, which is a place for local children, to be at this level?
As we proceeded with the interview, we began to see the reality of the "government-owned working poor" that was different from the past.
(“Good Morning Japan” Director Satoshi Yokoi)
The director of the children's center has an annual income of less than 2.5 million yen
I decided to apply for an interview to hear more about the woman who tweeted.
Then she responded to the condition of her anonymity, saying, "I want you to know the actual situation."
Satomi Suzuki (pseudonym, 40s).
A veteran who has been the director of a children's center established by a government-designated city for nearly 10 years.
As a curator, my duties are many and varied.
About 20 to 50 children visit each day.
In addition to providing a place to play and encourage growth, we also try to keep an eye on safety while interacting with children, and observe if there are any unusual behaviors.
If there is a problem, we will work with relevant organizations such as schools to deal with it, and if there is a risk of abuse, we will contact the child guidance center.
Work hours are 9 hours a day, 6 days a week.
In addition to being open on Saturdays and Sundays, she sometimes receives phone calls in the middle of the night from troubled children, making it difficult to distinguish between work and private life.
Ms. Satomi, who is qualified as a child welfare worker and oversees eight staff members, including volunteers, as the director.
Human resource development is also an important task.
There are more than 4,300 such children's centers nationwide (as of October 1, 2021), and they play an important role as a base for local childcare support.
Ms. Satomi:
“As the number of parents working together increases, it becomes more important for children to have a place to stay, and among them, the significance of the existence of children’s centers with low thresholds is increasing more and more. I have a lot of miscellaneous work such as data creation, so I'm always busy."
Satomi's monthly basic salary is 115,000 yen.
If you include allowances, your monthly income will range from 140,000 yen to 200,000 yen at most.
It is said that annual income does not reach 250 million yen.
Base salaries haven't gone up by a penny in the last 10 years.
Currently, she works as a child welfare-related lecturer as a side job, but she says that her family finances are still tight.
“Designated manager system” behind low wages
Why are we in such a situation?
In the background, it is said that this children's center is operated under a system called the "designated administrator system."
Satomi is not a civil servant, but an employee of a corporation.
The children's center is a public facility established by the local government, but management and operation are managed and operated by a private company on behalf of the local government, and Satomi, an employee, is the director.
The "designated manager system" was introduced in 2003 with the revision of the Local Autonomy Law, allowing private companies to participate in the management and operation of public facilities.
The purpose of this system is to improve public services and reduce costs by making use of the know-how of the private sector, and it is now used in many facilities.
However, Satomi says that in reality, cost reduction is the only priority, and the management of the facility and the people working at the site are being burdened.
Since the children's center can be used for free, the only income source is the designated management fee of around 20 million yen per year, which is paid by the local government.
You have to juggle everything in this.
As a result, the only way to keep a company running is to reduce labor costs.
Ms. Satomi:
“Originally, a children’s center needs to have a system that allows staff with specialized skills to be firmly established and develop their careers. "
For the company, reducing the budget leads to evaluation from the local government, and it will be advantageous for the next job, so there is an incentive to cut costs. There is no prospect of building a career in this industry and making a decent living.I have my own life to live on, but I am very disappointed that I can't do anything for the young staff who are doing their best."
“Further budget cuts” puts management in crisis…
Under these circumstances, the number of full-time staff members, which was originally seven, was reduced to four.
In addition, it has been decided that the designated management fee will be reduced by more than 10% in the future.
Satomi has a strong sense of crisis that the function as a children's house will not be maintained as it is.
Ms. Satomi:
"I was shocked because they said they couldn't reduce the number of staff any more. The children's center receives a wide variety of children and their parents. They have a major role to play in discovering and linking them to support.We can't place the responsibility on volunteers.
" It will be a situation where people just open and close the door, and it will not be good for the residents.”
In a post on SNS in November last year, Satomi concluded as follows.
“I wanted people to know that there is such a reality in the system of designated management. We must not let this situation pass on to students who are trying to do so.”
Over 70,000 public facilities under “designated management”
A "designated manager system" in which private companies manage and operate public facilities on behalf of local governments.
Just how wide is it?
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications compiles statistics every three years.
According to it, as of April 2021, the number of public facilities that have introduced the system has reached 77,537 nationwide, including parks, museums, water supply and port facilities.
There are various companies, foundations, public organizations, etc., but the proportion of "private companies, etc." (stock companies, NPO corporations, corporate associations, etc.) continues to increase, and in 2021, it will reach more than 33,000, and overall. Approximately 43% of the total.
It is becoming very common to see cases where the management and operation of public facilities are handled by the private sector.
Salary is also an issue for the featured library
There are also examples of the successful use of the power of the private sector through the introduction of the designated manager system.
Ibusuki City Library in Kagoshima Prefecture.
I decided to visit the site to see what kind of management and operation is actually being carried out.
The local NPO "Soramame no Kai" is responsible for the designated management.
In 2021, it was also selected as the grand prize of "Library of the Year", which is given to libraries that are conducting advanced activities.
This library is a historical facility that opened shortly after the war, but since the 1990s, the number of users has gradually decreased.
Under such circumstances, in 2006, the city publicly recruited designated managers to incorporate private know-how.
Out of the five organizations that applied, the Broad Bean Association, which was established mainly by people who had been involved in storytelling activities at the library, was selected to take over the operation.
First, we cleaned all the bookshelves and redesigned the layout of the library, led by staff with librarian qualifications.
In addition to making it possible for users to quickly find the book they are looking for by creating name tags for the author, we have started a forwarding service between school libraries and hold events such as "Yoru no Story Meeting". And introduce new attempts one after another.
Since 2016, we have been working with other facilities in the city to develop the "Civic Cafe Project", which provides a place where citizens interested in community development can interact, and we have also been working on activities that go beyond the boundaries of the library.
In the course of these activities, we also started computerization in cooperation with the city.
It is now possible to search and reserve books within the same system by connecting with another library in the city through a network.
Utilize crowdfunding
After that, we will continue to take advanced initiatives such as opening the mobile library “Book Cafe” using crowdfunding.
As a result, while the city's population is declining, the number of books borrowed last year increased to over 118,000, about 1.5 times the amount before the introduction of the designated manager system.
Today, it is widely popular among citizens as a regional base.
Kaoru Shimobukikoshi, Chairman of Soramame no Kai “
The underlying idea was to be a library that would be useful to the residents. Libraries change every day, and people won’t come unless there is an exciting mechanism. In that sense, I think that the lightness of the footwork of the private sector and the ability to think flexibly are being put to good use. You can buy it right away, and from tomorrow the old man will be able to use it.By cherishing the feeling of being close to each person, the residents who use it can be happy.I want the library to become such a place. is our heart's support."
Still tough... the reality of management
The Ibusuki City Library, which draws attention from those involved, was also facing staff salary issues at this facility.
The designated management fee for the library is more than 60 million yen a year, including the other library in the city.
It is less than 10 million yen less than the budget when the city was running.
Since all book lending and library events are free, it is currently difficult to earn any other income.
On the other hand, in addition to the cost of purchasing books, there are various expenses such as consumption tax, utility costs, and cleaning outsourcing costs.
Currently, there are seven staff members, including part-timers, but even full-time staff are said to receive about 130,000 to 160,000 yen a month.
The workload is increasing year by year as the number of rentals increases, but we cannot afford to hire new staff.
Under these circumstances, the current situation is that each of them manages to live by cutting food and utility costs, and taking on other jobs.
Corporations are always faced with uncertainty.
Chairman Kaoru Shimobukikoshi
“We are managing within the designated management fee, so we are struggling to pay the current amount of salary. Also, I feel that it is impossible to handle a lot of work with the current number of people, and I have a sense of crisis that some staff may quit. There is no answer yet as to how long I can continue to be a designated manager in this state.”
Municipality ``Difficult to raise budget''
How does Ibusuki City think about this situation?
The person in charge said as follows.
Shigeo Muramoto, Manager, Social Education Division, Ibusuki City
“I think we need to take a hard look at the problems that NPOs face, but the reality is that even if we want to fulfill our wishes, it is difficult to do so. In the midst of the overall financial situation, it is honestly difficult to raise the budget for public facilities, not just libraries
. We believe that it is necessary to maintain good communication and hold repeated discussions about what to prioritize and provide with limited resources.”
"Withdrawal" of vendors one after another due to corona misfortune
As we proceeded with the interviews, we learned that there were a series of cases in which the private companies that were in charge of managing and operating the facilities voluntarily gave up their designation and withdrew.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, the number of "withdrawal due to management difficulties (returned designation)" has increased to 242 facilities in the three years until April 2021, nearly three times the number in the previous three years. .
When I looked into what kind of facilities there were, most of them were related to tourism, such as lodging facilities, hot spring facilities, and experience-based exchange facilities.
There were also clinics and day care facilities.
Some facilities were forced to suspend or abolish
Of these, there were several facilities that could not find a designated manager, stopped recruiting, and were either suspended or abolished.
One of them is “Recreational Facility Yasuragi” in Tanba City, Hyogo Prefecture.
A municipal lodging facility surrounded by rich nature, it has been used mainly for year-end parties and Buddhist memorial services for the locals.
In the past, it was directly managed by the city, but in 2010, the designated manager system was used in order to operate more efficiently.
A local private company took over operations.
The designated management fee was decided based on the expected income and expenditure at that time, and it was in the form of compensating only the assumed deficit amount.
However, after the spread of the new corona infection, the number of customers decreased sharply.
Sales will drop even more.
The cost of refurbishing the aging facility was also an issue, so the company said that they wanted to leave a place where locals could gather, and asked the city for additional support.
In response to this, the city compensated for business interruption, but did not revise the designated management fee, etc., saying that it would be difficult to provide further support considering the financial situation and the balance with other public facilities.
As a result, the company retired and withdrew from operations before the expiration of the contract.
The city has not recruited new designated managers and remains closed today.
In response to an interview, Tamba City said, ``We had many discussions with the company about how to operate the facility, but it turned out to be like this, which is very disappointing. However, no specifics have been decided."
“We should be careful not to concentrate the burden on the site.”
Local governments have expanded the scale of designated management to rely on the power of the private sector.
If public services are enriched with the know-how of the private sector, it will be of great benefit to us.
On the other hand, local government budgets are limited.
What should public facilities be managed in the future?
Nangaku, a visiting professor at Toyo University who is familiar with the designated manager system, first points out the current situation surrounding the system as follows.
Nangaku, a visiting professor at Toyo University,
said, "While budgets are allocated to welfare services and disaster countermeasures, the financial situation is becoming increasingly severe, and local governments are struggling with how to allocate budgets to public facilities. Over the past few years, there has been a growing tendency to rely on the private sector for the management and operation of facilities, saying, ``Couldn't a private company do this more cheaply? As a result, it becomes impossible to operate without cutting costs, and the people working in the field are suffering. We are no longer able to maintain public facilities.”
On top of that, it is necessary to secure the wages of those who work on site and concentrate resources on the necessary public facilities.
Toyo University Visiting Professor Nangaku
: "Some local governments have independently enacted 'Public Contract Ordinances' that oblige contracted businesses to pay wages above a certain amount to workers. Such initiatives. "The government should be careful not to concentrate the burden on the frontline through such efforts."
"With no prospect of improvement in the financial situation, from now on, we will proceed with the 'selection' of public facilities and concentrate resources on the facilities that are truly necessary. Rather than trying to maintain facilities somehow, we should abolish those that should be abolished and prioritize the allocation of budgets to the remaining facilities. I want you to work hard to realize
Don't make it a new "government working poor"
Until now, the poor treatment of non-regular civil servants who support the administrative frontline has often been a problem as "government-owned working poor".
It became clear from this interview that the same composition seems to be spreading in a different form within the system of the designated manager system.
I felt that the fact that the management and operation were entrusted to the private sector made it more difficult to see the actual situation.
With the population declining in many local governments and no increase in tax revenue expected, this situation is likely to continue.
At the site I interviewed this time, I realized that public services are maintained by the high aspirations of the workers.
What can be done to ensure that these people have a rewarding job?
Including the "selection" of public facilities, discussion involving residents may be necessary.
What will happen to the more than 70,000 public facilities that have introduced designated management, and the people who work there?
I would like to continue the interview.
Good Morning Japan Director
Satoshi Yokoi
Joined in 2016
After working at the Aomori Bureau, since November 2021 he
has continued to report on issues in his current region
. His hobby is reading.
Home is like a library