pension

Day of action against pension cuts and war

As political tension mounted due to the ruling parties' attempt to railroad the bill to adversely revise the pension system through the Lower House in a matter of days, workers carried out a day of action near the Diet on April 21 in protest against the pension bill. Protesters also called for the "contingency"-related bills to be scrapped and for a withdrawal of the Self-Defense Forces from Iraq.

In the afternoon, at the call of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) and six other organizations, about 1,500 people marched in demonstration from Hibiya Amphitheater to the Diet Building. Referring to the success of the April 15 "Pension Strike" in which more than one million workers throughout Japan participated, Zenroren Secretary General Ban'nai Mitsuo said, "Gaining confidence in this success, let's further develop our movement to block the bill from being rammed through!"

At the Diet Building, the marchers shouted encouragement to 2,300 workers of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) who were also carrying out a sit-in against the bill to adversely revise the pension system.

In the evening, 2,500 workers from the seven organizations, together with a representative of 20 other unions of land, sea, air, and harbor, walked through the government offices district, calling for the adverse-pension bill to be scrapped, the SDF to be withdrawn from Iraq, and opposition to the war-related laws. The marchers were demanding that Japan follow Spain in removing its troops from Iraq.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Koike Akira reported on the Diet situation concerning the Iraqi question and emphasized the need to immediately withdraw the SDF from the region. (end)