Japan Press Weekly

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2008 September 10 - 16 [LABOR]

Bank apologizes to workers for its unfair labor practice

A Yamagata-based Kirayaka Bank apologized for unfair labor practices that included threatening Shokusan Bank Employees’ Union members so they would quit.

On September 8, the Shokusan Bank Employees’ Union, affiliated with the National Federation of Financial Industry Trade Unions, signed a settlement agreement in their favor with the bank at the Yamagata Prefectural Labor Relations Commission.

In the agreements, the bank promised to stop engaging in unfair labor practices, pay a lump sum settlement, and suspend the check-off of membership dues for the company union (Kirayaka Bank Employees’ Union) so that those employers who were forced to join this union can reconsider their affiliation.

Unfair labor practices towards the Shokusan Bank Employees’ Union began in May 2007 when the former Shiawase Bank and the former Shokusan Bank merged to establish the Kirayaka Bank.

During the hearings at the Yamagata Prefectural Labor Relations Commission, the Shokusan Bank Employees’ Union exposed the Kirayaka Bank’s illegal activities that included forcing Shokusan Bank union members to terminate their union membership and join the Kirayaka Bank union because the Shokusan Bank union opposed the bank’s cost-cutting plan that included wage cuts.

It has also been revealed that the Kirayaka Bank Employees’ Union’s inauguration meeting site was booked and paid for by Kirayaka Bank.

It was revealed that the bank drew up a union-busting plan in a ‘strictly confidential’ document and implemented it.