Japan Press Weekly

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2024 July 17 - 23 [LABOR]

Medical workers’ union resolves to establish a government working to improve social welfare programs

The Japan Federation of Medical Workers' Unions (Iroren) on July 18 ended its three-day annual convention held in Aichi’s Toyohashi City under the slogan, “Let us propel our unified struggle forward and change the government to one that will improve health and welfare services in line with the Constitution!”

The convention adopted an action program for the next year which aims to achieve goals including establishing an effective regulation limiting the number of night shifts per month, significantly increasing the number of medical workers in the healthcare and nursing-care fields, and providing a substantial increase in the wages of medical and other care workers. The convention also approved a “gender equality” declaration.

In the two-day discussion session, delegates from across the country reported on their experiences in this year’s “shunto” spring wage offensive as well as on other activities, such as efforts for organizational build-up.

A delegate from Tokushima Prefecture reported that in this year’s “shunto”, 94% of union members in the prefecture obtained a wage hike of over 2.5%. A delegate from Yamagata Prefecture said that union members working at private hospitals and nursing-care facilities went on strikes and won an increase of more than 10,000 yen in their monthly wages on average. A delegate from Kanagawa Prefecture reported that at several medical institutions in the prefecture, workers joined the Iroren and launched efforts to push their employers to hire more staff and accept the union’s demands.

On the last day of the convention, a new leadership was elected led by re-elected Iroren Chair Sasaki Etsuko and new Iroren Secretary General Yonezawa Akira.

On the first day of the convention, Japanese Communist Party Vice Chair Kurabayashi Akiko delivered a speech in solidarity.