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Japan Labor Organizations
Postwar labor unions were established with the
blessings of the
occupation authorities. The mechanism for collective
bargaining is
set up, and unions are organized by enterprise: membership
was
determined by company affiliation rather than by skill or
industry
type. In general, membership is also limited to permanent,
nonsupervisory personnel. Observers in the late 1980s
viewed labor
unions' role in the policy-making process as less powerful
than
that of business and agricultural organizations because
the unions'
enterprise-based structure made national federations weak
and
because unions were closely associated with parties that
remained
out of power.
The Japan Socialist Party largely depended on Sohyo for
funding, organizational support, and membership during
most of the
postwar period. Domei performed similar functions for the
Democratic Socialist Party. Sohyo was composed primarily
of public
sector unions such as those organized for national civil
servants,
municipal workers, and public school teachers. Domei's
constituent
unions were principally in the private sector. In the late
1980s,
however, the labor movement saw significant change. In
November
1987, the National Federation of Private Sector Trade
Unions
(Rengo), an amalgamation of Domei and smaller groups, was
formed
with a membership of 5.5 million workers and known as Shin
Reng
(New Rengo). After two years of intense negotiations, the
2.5
million members of public sector unions largely affiliated
with
Sohyo joined with Rengo. With 8 million members, Rengo
(the Shin
was dropped) included 65 percent of Japan's unionized
workers and
was, after the American Federation of Labor-Congress of
Industrial
Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the British Trades Union
Congress, the
world's third largest noncommunist union federation.
Rengo is a moderate, nonideological movement that shuns
involvement with Marxist Japan Communist Party-affiliated
unions.
Two leftist union confederations emerged in the wake of
the
amalgamation of Sohyo and Rengo: the 1.2 million-member
Japan
Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), and the
500,000-member
National Trade Union Council (Zenrokyo). The powerful
Nikkyoso,
with 675,000 members in the country's public primary and
secondary
schools, was divided between adherents and opponents of
Rengo.
In the early 1990s, the relationship of Rengo to the
socialist
political parties remained somewhat unclear. It was likely
that
many old support networks would remain in place. Some
noted the new
confederation's potential for promoting opposition party
unity,
because it encompassed supporters of the socialist parties
and the
small Social Democratic League. However, in the House of
Councillors election on July 18, 1989, Rengo withheld its
support
from the Japan Socialist Party and the party lost
sixty-four seats.
In their traditional stronghold, Tokyo, the socialists
retained
only one of the eleven seats contested.
Data as of January 1994
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