Shimane's trade unions to reach out to more unorganized part-time workers

As part of the effort to help unorganized part-time workers solve their job-related problems, the Shimane Prefectural Confederation of Trade Unions (Shimane-roren) will soon start a campaign to set up new individual membership local unions.

In Shimane Prefecture the population is decreasing and the prefectural federation of trade unions affiliated with the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) is so small that it cannot afford to have full time staff members. "But we are busy counseling local workers who have problems such as dismissals without due reasons," says its secretary.

Most of those workers who seek help from Shimane-roren are unorganized part-time workers. They are often treated as throw-away workers. Shimane-roren has found it effective to get such workers to join unions and negotiate with their employers to solve problems of jobs, wages, and worker's rights.

In the old prefectural city of Izumo, a worker of a so-called "one-coin" discount shop was sacked without any prior notice. He visited Shimane-roren for advice and launched a union to hold negotiations with the shop management. As a result, they got a victorious settlement.

In Shimane, the number of unstable contingency workers, including temps and part-timers, is rapidly increasing. At a plant of a major electronics company, its 2,000-member work force includes only 200 full-time workers, the rest being part-timers, including foreign workers.

In August alone, Shimane-roren received more than 60 requests for counseling over sudden dismissals and unpaid retirement allowance. (end)