Japan Press Weekly

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2021 March 17 - 23 [LABOR]

Calling for better wages and end to discrimination against non-regular workers, postal workers go on strike

The Postal Industry Workers’ Union (PIWU) on March 19 went on strike at 15 offices across Japan in protest against Japan Post’s refusal to accept the union’s demand in this year’s “shunto” spring wage offensive for an increase in base wages and an end to discriminatory treatment of non-regular workers.

At a rally held in front of the Japan Post head office in Tokyo, PIWU Chair Himaki Naoya said, “The company should compensate postal workers for working hard to maintain stable postal services amid the pandemic by offering substantial pay hikes. It should abide by the Supreme Court ruling and provide equal treatment to non-regular workers.”

Delivering a speech in solidarity, Kurosawa Koichi, secretary general of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) which the PIWU affiliated with, said that as essential workers, postal workers deserve to be offered higher wages, and called on rally participants to work even harder to push Japan Post to accept the union’s demands.

A PIWU member attending the rally said, “Due to the pandemic-triggered growth in e-commerce parcels, I have difficulty finding the time to take a break and am always exhausted. I want the company, in line with the union’s request, to raise wages drastically, hire more workers, and convert non-regular workers to regular positions.”

Past related article:
> Top court rules unequal treatment of non-regular postal workers to be unreasonable [October 16, 2020]