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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Discrimination based on ideology is no longer accepted in the 21st century

The court-mediated settlement on December 26 of the dispute at Nippon Steel Hirohata Works signifies the complete failure and collapse of the labor policy of showing hostility to Japanese Communist Party members and supporters, the policy that has been practiced for almost a half-century since the 1960s.

Most Japanese large corporations have used various forms of persecution and discrimination against JCP members to keep workers under control, claiming that the Constitution does not apply to workplaces.

JCP members blacklisted

Nippon Steel had the secret "administrative manual of welfare facility" that listed workers the company identified as JCP members or supporters. The document contained information about their participation in residents' associations, union elections, and various asociations and circles, as well as about subscriptions to the JCP newspaper Akahata. These pieces of information were categorized according to "ideologically biased persons" or "readers of a particular newspaper." It even provides instructions on how to force "ideologically biased persons" to become renegades.

At Hirohata, superiors told JCP members to quit the party in accordance with their instructions. Human rights violations were prevalent, such as advising them to give up their membership in a workplace baseball team or not allowing them to get a license to operate cranes or forklifts. The company ordered a JCP member to do weeding under the scorching sun in summer, in disregard of his doctor's advise to restrict work because he had cancer and had been repeatedly hospitalized. When this worker died, apart from the plant manager and those who represented the company, none of his colleagues in his workplace attended his funeral except JCP members and supporters. How extraordinary this was!

The company pushed ahead with a large-scale job cut plan from 1987, using the excuse of an economic recession caused by the strong yen, and has carried out a reduction of 40,000 jobs in five waves. At Hirohata, more than 3,000 jobs, or more than half, have been cut. The company fostered union leaders who support labor-capital collaboration, and the union has accepted every measure the company has taken to reduce the workforce.

JCP members, on the other hand, have opposed the company's "rationalization" measures, calling for job security and defense of the local economy.

In the attempt to prevent the workers' movement from growing, Nippon Steel set up "isolation rooms."

In 1989, the company established "the fourth craft" within the craft center engaged in painting, demolition, and canning in the yard in order to keep JCP members separated from production lines. The fourth craft rooms were located at a place far from other crafts' staff rooms and workshops. They have thus been discriminated against and placed under round-the-clock watch.

Ideological discrimination against workers has been used to exclude JCP members who were at the forefront of the struggle to achieve workers' demands at large corporations. The aim of such discrimination is to force workers into a workplace without the freedom of speech and establish firmer control over workers.

The Kobe District Court ruling in March 2004 pointed out that Nippon Steel discriminated against workers only because they were JCP members. The court said the company had consistently followed the anti-communist labor policy with the aim of isolating communists.

The Osaka High Court ruling also recommended that Nippon Steel comply with the Constitution and labor laws, and the fundamental definition of human rights, and that they stop discrimination based on ideology or beliefs. It urged the steel giant to treat all workers equally.

Recently, serious incidents and accidents have occurred at Nippon Steel plants due to its unprecedented personnel reduction, a major social issue. Attending a rally held in June 2004 as part of "national concerted action" by Hirohata plaintiffs and their supporters in a lawsuit, a local leader of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) applauded the victory ruling and encouraged the participants.

Elimination of anti-communism is world current

Look at the world current. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which has followed an anti-communist and labor-capital collaboration line will merge with the World Confederation of Labor (WCL) next year by deleting from its present statute the provision of "opposing totalitarianism in any form," a phrase of anti-communism. This means that the new unified international labor organization will have "basic rules" free from anti-communism, suggesting that anti-communism can no longer remain as a rule so long as the trade union movement is based on the unity and solidarity of workers.

In Japan, the Liberal Democratic and Democratic parties have been competing for an adverse revision of the constitution. Despite such moves, the victory of Nippon Steel Hirohata workers in the lawsuit demonstrated that workers can end corporate discrimination against workers if they fight based on the Constitution that guarantees fundamental human rights, freedom of thought and beliefs, and the Labor Standard Law.

Discrimination based on ideology is a relic of the previous century. The struggle to defend the Constitution is all the more important in order to establish rules in places of work where workers can work with dignity.
- Akahata, December 27, 2005