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2014 August 27 - September 2 [LABOR]

District court: JAL hampers union activity for cancellation of mass dismissal

The Tokyo District Court on August 28 ruled that a trustee overseeing the Japan Airlines’ rehabilitation procedure committed unfair labor practices against unions protesting against JAL’s dismissal of flight crewmembers.

The Japan’s flagship carrier in January 2010 received a court approval of the application of the Corporate Rehabilitation Law. The airline under the supervision of its trustee, who was appointed in accordance with the law, entered the rehabilitation procedure which included a plan to dismiss a large number of pilots and cabin attendants.

In response to the JAL’s dismissal plan, the JAL Flight Crew Union and the JAL Cabin Crew Union repeatedly asked the company to negotiate with them about their proposal to prevent the mass dismissal of workers. The company, however, was unwilling to hold negotiations and in November 2010, the two unions independently took a vote on whether to go on strike or not in order to get the company to sit at a negotiation table. The JAL’s trustee, the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation, interfered with the unions’ vote by using its financial support for JAL as an excuse. JAL at the end of the year eliminated 165 flight crew jobs without responding to unions’ demand for negotiations.

In August 2011, the Tokyo Labor Relations Commission acknowledged the interference of JAL’s trustee with the two unions as an unfair labor practice. The airline company brought the matter to the Tokyo District Court.

In January 2011, 148 laid-off pilots and cabin attendants began the court struggle for retraction of their dismissals. In June this year, the Tokyo High Court made a decision in favor of JAL’s dismissal. The plaintiffs appealed the court decision to the Supreme Court.

The district court ruling this time may influence the ex-JAL workers’ legal battle.

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The International Transport Workers’ Federation in its 43rd congress (August 10 to 16 in Bulgaria) resolved to support the struggle of former JAL pilots and cabin attendants for their reinstatement, Akahata on August 28 reported.

The ITF contains 690 unions representing more than 4.5 million transport workers in 153 countries.

The resolution criticizes the airline for its reluctance to respond to laid-off workers’ demand to be reinstated to their original jobs while recruiting new employees.

Uchida Taeko of the JAL Cabin Crew Union who attended the congress said, “With support from 4.5 million transport workers around the world, we will increase our movement and achieve the retraction of our dismissals.”


Past related articles:
> Labor board: JAL’s interference in unions’ voting process is unfair [August 4, 2011]
> Unions file claim against JAL’s unfair labor practices [December 09,2010]