Japan Press Weekly

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2011 November 16 - 22 [LABOR]

Zenroren holds exchange meeting to struggle for ‘decent work’

More than 700 union members of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) on November 19-21assembled in Hamamatsu City in Shizuoka Prefecture to discuss ways to develop the movement to create a society guaranteeing full-time jobs to every worker desiring to work full time.

On the first day, Zenroren Secretary General Odagawa Yoshikazu pointed out that the last 10 years of neo-liberalism and the associated “structural reform” policies carried out by the government in response to big business’s demands have led to an increase in the use of non-regular workers, a decline in workers’ wages, and the near-collapse of social welfare systems. This has caused a serious deterioration in the living conditions of workers, especially contingent laborers.

Odagawa emphasized the importance of realizing stable and decent employment and improving social welfare programs in order to achieve a society in which people can live without anxiety.

As the main theme of the meeting, he called on participants to discuss issues related to the ongoing efforts to eliminate job uncertainty, such as the replacement of regular workers with non-regular workers and the streamlining of jobs. He especially expected the meeting to be a forum for discussing how to build a stronger Zenroren.

Participants took part in workshops dealing with various themes and exchanged their views and experiences on issues regarding non-regular employment, the fight against unfair dismissals, and efforts for organizational buildup.

In a workshop on non-regular employment, a representative of the National Federation of Consumers’ Cooperatives Workers’ Unions (Seikyororen) reported, “Even though part-time workers can be put in charge of shop operations and do the same job as full-time workers, their wages are 60 to 70 percent of that of full-time workers.” She said that Seikyororen is engaged in actions to achieve better treatment of part-time workers.

At the closing plenary on November 21, Zenroren Vice President Shibata Masako criticized the ruling Democratic Party for agreeing with the opposition Liberal Democratic and Komei parties to exclude the ban on the use of on-call workers and sending temporary workers to manufacturers from a bill to revise the Worker Dispatch Law. She called on participants to make further efforts to increase movements demanding a drastic revision of the law in the interest of workers.