Bill to freeze sale of state-owned Japan Post shares passed through Lower House

Japan Press Weekly

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

Bill to freeze sale of state-owned Japan Post shares passed through Lower House

At the House of Representatives plenary session on December 1, a bill to freeze the planned sale of state-owned shares in Japan Post Holdings Co. was approved with the majority vote of the ruling Democratic, Social Democratic, and People’s New parties and the Japanese Communist Party. The Komei and Your Party voted against, while the Liberal Democratic Party was absent.

Earlier in the day at a House of Representatives Internal Affairs and Communication Committee meeting, JCP representative Shiokawa Tetsuya emphasized the need to halt the ongoing postal privatization process which undermines people’s right to receive postal services and benefits large companies. However, Shiokawa protested against the way the House passed the bill by saying, “It wasn’t proper that the bill was forcibly adopted after discussing it for only three hours.”

Under the postal privatization policy, in October 2007, Japan Post Holdings Co. was established with four subsidiaries: Japan Post Network, Japan Post Service, Japan Post Bank, and Japan Post Insurance. Due to the profit-oriented management policy, people hardly receive adequate postal services and postal workers’ working conditions have deteriorated. In addition, the former public corporation Japan Post’s assets, including hotels, were sold to a major real estate company at an extraordinarily low price.

According to the initial government plan, the postal privatization scheme would be completed by selling state-owned Japan Post Holdings shares in phases.

The approved bill prevents the government from disposing its shares until it finalizes a blue-print for revising its postal privatization policy.

The JCP called on other political parties to carefully review the postal privatization policy from the viewpoint that postal savings and post office life insurance services should be provided equally anywhere in the country, that postal services divided into four companies should be merged into one company, and that the management policy should be changed from a profit-oriented one to one with the aim to promote public welfare programs.

After freezing the sale of state-owned Japan Post shares, people should start a discussion on a proper direction for postal services.

- Akahata, December 2, 2009