View source for Labor unions in Japan

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{{Update|date=September 2023|reason=this article is largely missing information about this topic from 1991 onward}}{{Infobox Union by Country <!-- please include empty fields for future use -->
|country = Japan
|national  = [[RENGO|Japanese Trade Union Confederation (''Rengo'')]]<br/>
[[Zenroren|National Confederation of Trade Unions (''Zenroren'')]]<br/> 
[[National Trade Union Council (Japan)|National Trade Union Council (''Zenrokyo'')]]<br/>
[http://www.jil.go.jp/bulletin/directory/index.htm Others]
|government = [[Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare]]
|legislation = Labour Union Law (Act. No. 51, Dec 1945)<br/> 
Labour Relations Adjustment Law (1946)<br/>
[[Labor Standards Act of 1947|Labour Standards Law (1947)]]<br/>
[[Trade Union Act of 1949|Labour Union Law]] (Act. No. 174, June 1949)<br/>
Labour Contract Law (2007)<ref>Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training. [http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/Laws.htm Labor Laws of Japan.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110525093504/http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/Laws.htm |date=2011-05-25 }} Retrieved 11 June 2011</ref> 
|membership_number = 10,238,187<ref name="Statistics Bureau">Statistics Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. [http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/chouki/19.htm Labour Unions and Membership (1945-2005).] Retrieved 10 June 2011</ref>
|union_percentage1_title = Percentage of workforce unionized
|union_percentage1 = 16.3% (2023)<ref name="jil.go.jp">Japan International Labour Foundation website on 2023 Basic Survey of Trade Unions [https://www.jilaf.or.jp/en/news/20240115-3485/]</ref> <!-- union density by region/industry/demographics as available -->


|union_percentage2_title =
|union_percentage2 = <!-- as above -->
|ILOmember = Yes
|ILO-87date = 14 June 1965
|ILO-98date = 20 October 1953
}}

[[Labour unions]] emerged in Japan in the second half of the [[Meiji period]], after 1890, as the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization.<ref name="Nimura">Nimura, K. [http://oohara.mt.tama.hosei.ac.jp/nk/English/eg-formation.html ''The Formation of Japanese Labor Movement: 1868-1914''] (Translated by Terry Boardman). Retrieved 11 June 2011</ref> Until 1945, however, the labour movement remained weak, impeded by a lack of legal rights,<ref name="Cross">Cross Currents. [http://www.crosscurrents.hawaii.edu/content.aspx?lang=eng&site=japan&theme=work&subtheme=UNION&unit=JWORK079 Labor unions in Japan.] CULCON. Retrieved 11 June 2011</ref> [[anti-union]] legislation,<ref name="Nimura" /> management-organized factory councils, and political divisions between “cooperative” and radical unionists.<ref name="Weathers">Weathers, C. (2009). Business and Labor. In William M. Tsutsui, ed., ''A Companion to Japanese History'' (2009) pp. 493-510.</ref>

In the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, the [[Occupation of Japan|U.S. Occupation]] authorities initially encouraged the formation of independent unions, but reversed course as part of broader anti-Communist measures.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=LEE|first=YONG WOOK|date=2004|title=THE ORIGIN OF ONE PARTY DOMINATION: AMERICA'S REVERSE COURSE AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN JAPAN|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23258199|journal=The Journal of East Asian Affairs|volume=18|issue=2|pages=371–413|issn=1010-1608}}</ref><ref name="Cross" /> The legislation was passed that enshrined the right to organize,<ref>Jung, L. (30 March 2011). [http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/ifpdial/info/national/jp.htm#tu National Labour Law Profile: Japan.] ILO. Retrieved 10 June 2011</ref> and membership rapidly rose to 5 million by February 1947.<ref name="Cross" /> The organization rate peaked at 55.8% in 1949<ref>Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training website [http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborsituation/2009-2010/detailed_2009-2010.pdf Labor Situation in Japan and Analysis: 2009/2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927061114/http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborsituation/2009-2010/detailed_2009-2010.pdf |date=2011-09-27 }} Retrieved 10 June 2011</ref> and subsequently declined to 16.3% as of 2023.<ref name="jil.go.jp"/>

The labour movement went through a process of reorganization from 1987 to 1991<ref>Dolan, R. E. & Worden, R. L. (Eds.). ''Japan: A Country Study''. [http://countrystudies.us/japan/104.htm Labor Unions, Employment and Labor Relations.] Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1994. Retrieved 12 June 2011</ref> from which emerged the present configuration of three major labour union federations, along with other smaller national union organizations.

==National labor union federations==
In 2005, 43,096 [[labour unions]] in [[Japan]], with a combined membership of 7,395,666 workers,<ref name="Statistics Bureau" /> belonged either directly, or indirectly through labour union councils, to the three main [[List of federations of trade unions#North East Asia|labour union federations]]:

*'''[[RENGO|Rengo]]''': Japanese Trade Union Confederation ([[:ja:日本労働組合総連合会|日本労働組合総連合会]] ''Nihon Rōdōkumiai Sōrengō-kai'') 33,940 unions, 6,507,222 members<ref name="Statistics Bureau" /><ref>Japanese Trade Union Confederation (''Rengo''), [http://www.jtuc-rengo.org/affiliates/index.html Affiliated unions.] Retrieved 10 June 2011</ref>
* '''[[Zenroren]]''': National Confederation of Trade Unions ([[:ja:全国労働組合総連合|全国労働組合総連合]] ''Zenkoku Rōdōkumiai Sōrengō'') 7,531 unions, 730,102 members<ref name="Statistics Bureau" /><ref>Japan Institute for Labour Policy, Survey 2001-2002.  [http://www.jil.go.jp/bulletin/directory/2-2.htm Affiliated unions, National Confederation of Trade Unions (''Zenroren'').] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314110210/http://www.jil.go.jp/bulletin/directory/2-2.htm |date=2012-03-14 }} Retrieved 10 June 2011</ref>
*'''[[Zenrokyo]]''': National Trade Union Council ([[:ja:全国労働組合連絡協議会 (1989-)|全国労働組合連絡協議会]] ''Zenkoku Rōdōkumiai Renraku Kyōgi-kai'') 1,625 unions, 158,342 members<ref name="Statistics Bureau" /><ref>National Trade Union Council (''Zenrokyo'') [http://www.zenrokyo.org/kamei.htm Affiliated unions.] Retrieved 8 June 2011</ref>

A further 19,139 unions, with a combined membership of 2,842,521 workers, were affiliated to other national labour organizations.<ref name="Statistics Bureau" /> The labour union organizations included (with membership figures for 2001/2002)<ref>Japan Institute for Labour Policy, Survey 2001-2002, [http://www.jil.go.jp/bulletin/directory/index.htm Directory of Labor Administration, Major Trade Unions, and Employee's Associations in Japan.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927061109/http://www.jil.go.jp/bulletin/directory/index.htm |date=2011-09-27 }} Retrieved 10 June 2011</ref> the National Federation of Construction Workers' Unions (717,908) Federation of City Bank Employees' Unions (105,950), Zendenko Roren (53,853), National Federation of Agricultural Mutual Aid Societies Employees' Unions (45,830), All Japan Council of Optical Industry Workers' Union (44,776), National Teachers Federation of Japan (42,000), Faculty and Staff Union of Japanese Universities (38,500), and All Aluminium Industrial Workers Union (36,000).

==History==

===Meiji period to 1945===
[[File:Ashio Copper Mine circa 1895.JPG|thumb|300px|The Ashio copper mine (c1895). A three-day riot in 1907 at the Furukawa Company's massive mine was violently suppressed by troops.<ref>Nimura, K. (1997). [http://www.historycooperative.org/cgi-bin/justtop.cgi?act=justtop&url=http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/104.3/br_18.html The Ashio Riot of 1907: A Social History of Mining in Japan.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091204072930/http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/ahr/104.3/br_18.html |date=2009-12-04 }} ''American Historical Review, 104:3.'' June 1999. Retrieved 16 June 2011</ref>]]

In the first half of the [[Meiji period]] (1868–1912), most labour disputes occurred in the [[mining]] and [[Textile industry|textile industries]] and took the form of small-scale [[Strike action|strikes]] and spontaneous [[riot]]s. The second half of the period witnessed rapid [[industrialization]], the development of a [[capitalist economy]], and the transformation of many [[Feudal Japan hierarchy|feudal]] workers to [[wage labour]]. The use of strike action increased, and 1897, with the establishment of a union for metalworkers, saw the beginnings of the modern Japanese trade-union movement.<ref name="Nimura" />

In February 1898, engineers and stokers at the [[Nippon Railway|Japan Railway Company]] successfully struck for improvement of status and higher wages. In the same year, ships' carpenters in [[Tokyo]] and [[Yokohama]] formed a union, and a dispute followed with demands for higher wages.<ref name="Nimura" />

1907 saw the greatest number of disputes in a decade, with large-scale riots at Japan's two leading copper mines, [[Ashio, Tochigi|Ashio]] and Besshi, which were only suppressed by the use of troops. None of these early unions were large (the metalworkers union had 3,000 members, only 5% of workers employed in the industry), or lasted longer than three or four years, largely due to strong opposition from employers and the government's [[anti-union]] policies, notably the Public Order and Police Provisions Law (1900).<ref name="Nimura" />

One labour organization that did survive was the Friendly Society (''[[Yūaikai|Yuaikai]]''), formed in 1912 by Bunji Suzuki,<ref name="Nimura" /> which became Japan's first durable union and was renamed the Japan Federation of Labour (''Nihon Rōdō Sodomei'' or ''Sōdōmei'') in 1921. Two years later it had a membership of 100,000 in 300 unions.<ref>Baker, D. [http://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj/1965/no023/baker.htm The Trade Union Movement in Japan.] ''International Socialism,'' 23, Winter 1965/66, pp.19-26. Retrieved 19 June 2011</ref> From 1918 to 1921, a wave of major industrial disputes marked the peak of organized labour power. A prolonged [[economic slump]] that followed brought cutbacks in employment in [[heavy industry]]. In the early 1920s, ultra-cooperative unionists proposed the fusion of labour and management interests, heightening political divisions within the labour movement and precipitating the departure of [[Left-wing politics|left wing]] unions from Sōdōmei in 1925. The union movement has remained divided between [[Right-wing politics|right wing]] (“cooperative”) unions and left wing unions ever since.<ref name="Weathers" />

After the [[First World War]], there were many attempts to establish a trade union law to protect the rights of workers to organize themselves, including a Department of Home Affairs bill in 1925, which would have prevented employers from discharging workers for belonging to a union, or requiring workers to quit (or not join) a union. But these bills never became law.<ref>Kimura, Shinichi,  [http://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/metadb/up/LIBOULRK01/oulr006-001.pdf Unfair Labor Practices under the Trade Union Law of Japan] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718171935/http://ir.library.osaka-u.ac.jp/metadb/up/LIBOULRK01/oulr006-001.pdf |date=2011-07-18 }}</ref>

Hampered by their weak legal status, the absence of a right to [[bargain collectively]] with employers,<ref name="Cross" /> and the setting up of management-organized factory councils, over 800 unions<ref name="Benson">Benson, J. (3 Nov 2008). [http://www.japanfocus.org/-John-Benson/2938 The Development and Structure of Japanese Enterprise Unions.] ''The Asia-Pacific Journal.'' Retrieved 15 June 2011</ref> had succeeded in organizing only 7.9% of the labour force by 1931.<ref name="Weathers" /> Of these unions, the majority were organized along industrial or craft lines, with about one-third organized on an enterprise basis.<ref>Weinstein, D. (1994). United we stand: firms and enterprise unions in Japan. ''Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, 8,'' 53-71.</ref> 5% of unionized workers were members of the [[anarchism|anarchist]] union federations ''[[Zenkoku Jiren]]'' and ''[[Nihon Jikyō]]''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Crump|first=John|year=1995|chapter=The Japanese Pure Anarchists and the Theory of Anarchist-Communism|editor-first1=Peter|editor-last1=Lowe|editor-first2=Herman|editor-last2=Moeshart|title=Western Interactions With Japan|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781315060323|doi=10.4324/9781315060323-4|p=37}}</ref>

In 1940, the government dissolved the existing unions and absorbed them into the Industrial Association for Serving the Nation (''Sangyo Hokokukai'' or ''Sampō''),<ref>''Sampō'' is variously referred to in English as the ''Industrial Association for Serving the Nation'', ''Movement in Service for the Country'', ''League for Service to the State'', and ''Industrial Patriotic Society''.</ref> the government-sponsored workers' organization, as part of a national reorganization of all civil organizations under central government direction<ref name="Cross" /> and as a means of controlling radical elements in the workforce. Nonetheless, employees could still bargain and gain welfare benefits on a local level.<ref name="Benson" /> Sampō remained in existence at the end of the war.

===1945 to the present===
After the [[Japanese surrender]] on 15 August 1945, allied forces, mostly American, rapidly began arriving in Japan. Almost immediately, the occupiers began an intensive program of legal changes designed to democratize Japan. One action was to ensure the creation of a Trade Union Law to allow for the first time workers to organize, strike, and bargain collectively, which was passed by the Diet of Japan on 22 December 1945.{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=82}}

[[File:1959–60 Mitsui-Miike Labor Dispute 02.jpg|thumb|300px|The [[Miike Struggle|1960 Miike struggle]]: police with helmets and batons clash with striking coal miners at the [[Miike coal mine]], May 12, 1960]]While the law was created while Japan was under occupation, the law itself was largely a Japanese work. It was put together by a large legal advisory commission headed by the legal scholar Suehiro Izutaro. The commission was quite large, consisting of "three Welfare ministry bureaucrats and two scholars, a steering committee of 30 members (including the communist firebrand [[Kyuichi Tokuda]]), and an overall membership of more than 130 members representing universities, corporations, political parties, the bureaucracy, social workers, and labor."{{sfn|Dower|1999|p=245}}

In addition to the Trade Union Act of 1945, the postwar [[constitution of Japan]], which became law on 3 May 1947 includes article 28, which guarantees the right of workers to participate in a trade union.

On 1 June 1949, a new version of the [[Trade Union Act of 1949|Trade Union Law]] was enacted. It has since been amended in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1959, 1962, 1966, 1971, 1978, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1988, 1993, 1999, 2002, 2004, and 2005.<ref>Japan Institute for Labor Policy and Training [http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/documents/llj_law2.pdf Trade Union Law] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612020204/http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/documents/llj_law2.pdf |date=2011-06-12 }}</ref>

By 1960, Japan's labor unions were at the height of their power, and served as the backbone of the massive [[Anpo protests|1960 Anpo protests]] against revision of the [[U.S.-Japan Security Treaty]].{{sfn|Kapur|2018|p=2}} However, that same year, the Japanese labor movement suffered a devastating defeat in the climactic [[Miike Struggle|Miike Coal Mine strike]] at the [[Mitsui Miike Coal Mine]] in Kyushu, marking the high-water mark of labor militancy in Japan.{{sfn|Kapur|2018|pp=135–137}}

Until the mid-1980s, Japan's 74,500 [[trade union]]s were represented by four main labor federations: the [[Sōhyō|General Council of Trade Unions of Japan]] (日本労働組合総評議会 ''nihon rōdō kumiai sōhyōgikai'', commonly known as [[Sōhyō]]), with 4.4 million members—a substantial percentage representing public sector employees; the [[Japanese Confederation of Labour|Japan Confederation of Labour]] (''zen nihon rodo sodomei'', commonly known as [[Japanese Confederation of Labour|Dōmei]]), with 2.2 million members; the [[Association of Neutral Labour Unions]] ([[:ja:中立労連]] [[Association of Neutral Labour Unions|Chūritsu Rōren]]), with 1.6 million members; and the [[National Federation Of Industrial Organisations|National Federation of Industrial Organizations]] ([[:ja:新産別]] [[National Federation Of Industrial Organisations|Shinsanbetsu]]), with only 61,000 members.

In 1987 Dōmei and Chūritsu Rōren were dissolved and amalgamated into the newly established [[RENGO|Japanese Trade Union Confederation]] ([[:ja:日本労働組合総連合会|連合]] [[RENGO]]), and in 1990 Sōhyō affiliates merged with Rengo.

==Membership==
The rate of labor union membership declined considerably after its postwar high to 16.3% as of 2023.<ref name="jil.go.jp"/> The continuing long-term reduction in union membership was caused by several factors, including the restructuring of Japanese industry away from [[heavy industry|heavy industries]]. Many people entering the workforce in the 1980s joined smaller companies in the [[tertiary sector]], where there was a general disinclination toward joining labor organizations.

Any regular employee below the rank of section chief is eligible to become a [[union officer]]. Management, however, often pressures the workers to select favored employees. Officers usually maintain their seniority and tenure while working exclusively on union activities and while being paid from the union's accounts, and union offices are often located at the factory site. Many union officers go on to higher positions within the corporation if they are particularly effective, but few become active in organized labor activities at the national level.

The relationship between the typical labor union and the company is unusually close. Both white- and blue-collar workers join the union automatically in most major companies. Temporary and subcontracting workers are excluded, and managers with the rank of section manager and above are considered part of management. In most corporations, however, many of the managerial staff are former union members. In general, Japanese unions are sensitive to the economic health of the company, and company management usually briefs the union membership on the state of corporate affairs.

==Negotiations and actions==
{{Unreferenced section|date=May 2021}}
[[File:NUGW May Day 2011.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|2011 [[Zenrokyo|National Trade Union Council (''Zenrokyo'')]] [[International Workers' Day#Japan|May Day]] march, Tokyo.]]
Local labor unions and work unit unions, rather than the federations, conducted the major [[collective bargaining]]. Unit unions often banded together for wage negotiations, but federations did not control their policies or actions. Federations also engaged in political and public relations activities.

During prosperous times, the [[Shuntō|spring labor offensive]]s are highly ritualized affairs, with banners, sloganeering, and dances aimed more at being a show of force than a crippling job action. Meanwhile, serious discussions take place between the union officers and corporate managers to determine pay and benefit adjustments.

During downturns, or when management tries to reduce the number of permanent employees, [[Strike action|strike]]s often occur. The number of working days lost to labor disputes peaked in the economic turmoil of 1974 and 1975 at around 9 million workdays in the two-year period. In 1979, however, there were fewer than 1 million days lost. Since 1981 the average number of days lost per worker each year to disputes was just over 9% of the number lost in the United States.

After 1975, when the economy entered a period of slower growth, annual wage increases moderated and labor relations were conciliatory. During the 1980s, workers received pay hikes that on average closely reflected the real growth of GNP for the preceding year. In 1989, for example, workers received an average 5.1% pay hike, while [[Measures of national income and output|GNP]] growth had averaged 5% between 1987 and 1989. The moderate trend continued in the early 1990s as the country's national labor federations were reorganizing themselves.
{{Clear}}

== Unions ==
===Extant===
*[[National Trade Union Council (Japan)|National Trade Union Council (Zenrokyo)]]
*[[RENGO|Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo)]]
*[[Zenroren|National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren)]]
*[[National Union of General Workers (Zenrokyo)|National Union of General Workers]]
*[[General Union (Japan)|General Union]]
*[[Kyabakura Union]]
*[[Japan Teachers Union|Japan Teachers Union (Nikkyoso)]]
*[[University Teachers Union (Japan)|University Teachers Union]]
*[[Tozen|Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union (Tozen)]]

===Formerly extant===
*[[Sanbetsu]]
*[[Sōhyō]]

==See also==
{{Portal|Organized labour|Japan}}

===Workplace===
*[[Japanese employment law]]
*[[Japanese work environment]]
*[[Black company (Japanese term)]]

===Workers===
* [[Japanese blue collar workers]]
* [[Salaryman]], Japanese white collar worker
* [[Office lady]]

===Labor actions===
*[[Anpo protests]]
*[[Miike Struggle]]

==References==
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

===Works cited===
* {{citation |last = Dower |first = John W. |author-link = John W. Dower |title = Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II |title-link = Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II |publisher = Norton |year=1999 |isbn = 0-393-04686-9 }}
*{{cite book |last = Kapur |first = Nick |year = 2018 |title = Japan at the Crossroads: Conflict and Compromise after Anpo |publisher = Harvard University Press |location = Cambridge, MA |isbn = 978-0674984424 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Re5hDwAAQBAJ}}

==External links==

===National===
*[http://www.jtuc-rengo.org/ RENGO (en)]
*[http://www.zenroren.gr.jp/jp/english/ ZENROREN (en)]
*[http://www.zenrokyo.org/ ZENROKYO (ja)]

===Local===
*[http://www.generalunion.org/ General Union (Osaka and Nagoya areas) (en)]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101206013240/http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~kcunion/ Kanagawa City Union (ja)]
*[http://nugwnambu.org/ Tokyo NAMBU (ja/en)]
*[http://tokyogeneralunion.org/ Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union (Tozen) (en)]
*[http://www.zwu.or.jp/ Zentoitsu Workers Union (Ueno-Okachimachi, Tokyo) (ja)]
{{Economy of Japan}}
{{Asia in topic|Trade unions in}}

[[Category:Trade unions in Japan| ]]
[[Category:Labor in Japan]]