Japan Press Weekly

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2012 October 3 - 9 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Majority of Rengo-affiliate union members negative about N-power

A Rengo-affiliate basic industry workers’ union recently published an interim survey report showing that the majority of union members have negative views on nuclear power generation, contrary to Rengo’s pro-nuclear stance.

The Japan Federation of Basic Industry Workers’ Union (JBU), which is affiliated with the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), organizes 255,000 workers in basic industries such as steel, shipbuilding, and metal processing. The union between May and June conducted an opinion survey of its members.

The survey asked the members to choose one of two opinions on nuclear power plants: the number of nuclear power plants should be maintained at the current level if the safety is secured; or the number should be kept to the minimum even if the safety is secured.

Among 23,046 respondents, 50.1% preferred to minimize dependence on electricity generated from nuclear power while 48.7% opposed decreasing the number of nuclear reactors.

The interim report states that opinion on nuclear power generation is divided even among Rengo-union members because even though the survey put emphasis on safety, the majority chose the negative response.

The report also points out that the Rengo-backed Democratic Party of Japan drastically lost support from union members who have not served as union executives.

Rengo President Koga Nobuaki on September 21 criticized the government for trying to set a “zero” aim on nuclear power plants by the 2030s as a national goal.