National Trade Union Council (Japan)

Zenrokyo

National Trade Union Council
Zenkoku Rōdōkumiai Renraku Kyōgi-kai
Founded	December 9 1989
Members	128,000
Affiliations	Social Democratic Party, New Socialist Party
Website	Zenrokyo website

Zenrokyo (全労連, Zenrōkyō), which stands for National Trade Union Council (全国労働組合連絡協議会, Zenkoku Rōdōkumiai Renraku Kyōgi-kai))is a national confederation of Japanese Labor Unions.

There was previously another organization of the same name from 1947-1950.

Founding and history

In the late 1980s there were many changes in the trade union movement in Japan. The two major bodies of trade unions, the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan (Sōhyō) and the Japanese Confederation of Labor (Dōmei), formed the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Rengo) in 1989, advocating the importance of the Japanese Labor Union movement being unified. On the other hand, other labor unions which felt Rengo was too conservative, formed the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), which had a close relationship with the Japanese Communist Party.

There were also some other labor unions which did not wish to join either Rengo or Zenroren, who formed the National Trade Union Council on December 9, 1989 with its slogan of being a "Real fighting labor union movement." This organization was born out of the Labor Research Center, which had been created by former Sōhyō chairmen Kaoru Ota and Makoto Ichikawa and former secretary general Akira Iwai.

Unlike organizations such as Sōhyō or Zenroren, Zenrokyo regards itself as a council of its affiliated labor unions, rather than a national center of labor unions. However, with its affiliated member organization being widely spread throughout the nation, it is often regarded as one of the national centers of the Japanese labor unions.

Currently

Zenrokyo holds a regular annual conference. Its most recent, the 23rd annual conference, was held in September 2011.

Estimates of Zenrokyo's membership vary. Zenrokyo itself declares its membership to be some 300,000, while according to the investigation by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare its numbers were reported as 118,000 as of December, 2010.

In terms of its membership, Zenrokyo is much smaller than Rengo and Zenroren. However, since it is actively engaged in the labor union movement with its affiliated members throughout the nation, it can exert an large influence in cooperation with the other labor organizations such as Rengo and Zenroren. Zenrokyo is also the only one of the major trade union federations to actively organize foreign workers in Japan.

Its membership rose to 128,000 as of the end of June, 2011.

Politically, Zenrokyo has had a close relation with the left group of the Social Democratic Party, and currently it supports the Social Democratic Party and the New Socialist Party.

However, Zenrokyo does not force its members to raise funds as an organization or to support the political parties mentioned above, regretting that those practices which were carried out in the Sōhyō period undermined the integrity of the labor union movement.

Zenrokyo's priorities

• Safeguarding the Peace Constitution
• Opposition to war
• Opposition to US Military Facilities in Japan
• Support for the Peace Movement,
• Opposition to dismissals and restructuring as is shown in the support of the JNR Fight (the problem of 1047 Japan National Railways Workers' Union members denied work in the privatized Japan Railways.

In addition to this, Zenrokyo cooperates with Zenroren on some issues.

Affiliated Unions:

• Federation of Tokyo Metropolitan Government Workers Unions (Tororen)
• National Railway Workers' Union (Kokuro)
• National Union of General Workers Council (Zenrokyo/Zenkoku Ippan)
• Postal Administration Laborer Union (Yusei Union)
• National Conference of the Dentsu Labor Unions, the NTT Related Trade Unions Council
• Railroad Industrial Labor Association (Tetsusanro)

There are also other labor unions belonging to the sub-organizations of the local industrial trade union, which are affiliated with either Rengo or Zenroren.

Local Organizations

• Miyagi Zenrokyo
• Tohoku (Northeast) Zenrokyo
• Tokyo Zenrokyo
• Tobu (Eastern) Zenrokyo
• Seibu (Western) Zenrokyo
• Nambu (Southern) Zenrokyo
• Hokubu (Northern) Zenrokyo
• Nerima Zenrokyo
• Chubu (Central) Zenrokyo
• Santama Zenrokyo Preorganizing Committee
• Shizuoka Joint Struggle
• Aichi Zenrokyo
• Sōhyō Kyoto District Council (affiliated with Kyoto Sōhyō and Zenroren)
• Osaka Zenrokyo
• Hyogo Joint Struggle
• Hiroshima Zenrokyo
• Tokushima Zenrokyo
• Nagasaki Zenrokyo

See also

• Labor unions in Japan
• National Union of General Workers
• General Union
• Social Democratic Party
• New Socialist Party

External links

• Template:En icon National Trade Union Council