 Zenroren proposes to make 2005 the year of a major change The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), one of the two major national trade union centers, held its New Year assembly on January 7. Addressing the more than 200 representatives of Zenroren member unions and guests, Zenroren President Kumagai Kanemichi called for building a Japan in which the people are the key players in society, the economy, and politics. He said that since the year 2005 marks the 60th anniversary of the end of WW II and the A-bombings, as well as the 85th anniversary of the start of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the 50th year of the start of the spring struggle, it should be a year of major change. Kumagai gave three points as important tasks for this year: To encourage 1.3 million union members affiliated with Zenroren to play an active role; to increase the movement in opposition to adverse revision of the Fundamental Law of Education and of the Constitution; and to drastically increase Zenroren's organizational strength. Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi in his speech wished for Zenroren's contribution to the struggle to prevent the Constitution from being adversely revised. He called for common struggle with the JCP to defend the people's living conditions now that workers' wages have been declining for the last six straight years and that the government has plans for imposing more burdens on the people. (end) |