Japan Press Weekly

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2009 April 29 - May 12 [LABOR]

May Day rallies take place at 357 locations across the nation

On May 1, Japanese workers, mainly with unions affiliated with the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), attended May Day rallies held at 357 locations throughout the country.

At the main May Day Rally in Tokyo, attended by about 36,000 people, a representative of the All Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU) Isuzu Motor Branch, which recently won a court decision that the unilateral termination of temporary workers’ contracts before their contracts expired is invalid, appeared on the stage. He said, “We will continue to fight and we can win. Our struggle can influence politics. Let’s unite and raise our voices!”

A female temporary worker, who joined a union demanding the withdrawal of her dismissal, took part in a May Day rally for the first time, and said, “The position of a temporary worker is unstable and weak. I’m uncertain about my future. Every temporary worker wants to become a full-time worker. I want that temporary jobs be eliminated.”

After the rally, participants marched in demonstration through three major areas appealing to the public with various creative signs and placards such as, “Let’s establish rules of employment! Oppose the new anti-piracy bill! No more nuclear weapons!”

Speaking on behalf of the organizing committee, Zenroren President Daikoku Sakuji reported that temporary workers stood up against arbitrary dismissals and more than 5,000 workers across the nation joined unions to continue the struggle. He called on participants to “further increase the struggle against the destruction of the job market by developing national solidarity.”

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo in his speech called for creating an economy based on fair rules by establishing new work rules through workers’ joint struggles, including the movement for a drastic revision of the Worker Dispatch Law without allowing the disposable use of workers.