Organizing the Unorganized: A Non-Regular Workers' Spring Offensive in Japan│Organizing the Unorganized: A Non-Regular Workers' Spring Offensive in Japan

Visit Organizer Kotaro Aoki

February 19, 2023

Translated by Guanyu Zhu

Asian Labor Review (ALR) editor's note: One of the most important events in the calendar of the Japanese labor movement is called the "Shuntou (also known as the "Spring Life/Wage Struggle")". For decades, unions have come together in the early spring months to flex their collective power and negotiate wage increases for workers.

However, in recent years, the number of full-time union members with stable employment has declined, while the number of highly temporary informal workers working part-time, short-term, or through labor dispatch has increased substantially. How to organize the informal workers who were traditionally excluded from Chundou became an important issue for the labor movement.

This year, labor organizers have announced a spring fight against informal workers. We interviewed one of the organizers, Mr. Aoki Kotaro, to learn about the efforts to organize informal workers and its importance in reviving the labor movement.

We would also like to thank Mr. Makoto Iwahashi for his interpretation. This interview has been slightly edited for brevity and clarity.

ALR: Can you introduce yourself? How did you get involved in organizing informal workers?

Aoki Kotaro: My name is Aoki Kotaro. I am the permanent secretary of the General Support Union. Unlike Japan's major unions that organize within companies, we organize across all industries, no matter which company the workers are working for.

Our members can join as individuals. Unlike the perpetual male workers who are in the bliss organized by the major unions, we tend to organize the historically unorganized.

When the global financial crisis hit Japan in 2008, when a large number of labor dispatch workers were laid off, they came to the Ministry of Labor in central Tokyo to protest. I have been involved in the labor movement ever since. The media reported the poverty and dangerous working conditions of these workers. That's why I'm involved.

ALR: What is Chundou? What is its importance? In a post (see: https://kaoki-union.theletter.jp/posts/448d6640-ac2d-11ed-b614-41c0f25209e4 ), you also point out some limitations of Haruto.

Kotaro Aoki: Chundou is a literal translation of the Japanese word, which means spring and struggle. Since 1955, the labor unions organized within each enterprise (that is, enterprise-based labor unions) have demanded that enterprises raise wages at the same time in February and March every year. Since Japanese unions are organized on an enterprise basis, they do not collaborate or fight together at other times. But during that time, all unions were asking for raises at the same time, and by about the same amount.

But there are still restrictions. One is that the main requirement is a raise. Other aspects, such as working conditions and working hours, are less important. The second limitation is that even if they win, the percentage increase in wages will not reduce the wage gap between large firms and SMEs and between regular and informal workers. We are seeing more and more informal workers in the current labor market.

Between 1955 and 1974, due to labor shortages and strong economic growth, Chundou received a 10 percent raise each year. But after 1975, the raises were reduced to around 5%. Then in the late 90s, it dropped to 1%. Real wages in Japan have been falling since the 90s. This is why Chundou has been unable to effectively help workers since 2000, especially many of them who are not unionized. Even if they have joined the union, they have signed an informal work contract, which does not meet the requirements of traditional Chundou.

We are organizing the unorganized. The benefit of Chundou is that it is a way to collaborate with other unions and make common demands. Due to inflation and high energy costs, demanding wage increases has become important to workers.

ALR: I would like to ask about the situation of informal workers in Japan and what you think is the problem at hand.

Kotaro Aoki: The number of informal workers has been rising since the 1990s and now accounts for about 40% of the Japanese workforce. Two-thirds of them are female workers, and many informal workers are paid minimum wage.

They could be fired at any time, or their contracts might not be renewed. The principle of equal pay for equal work also does not exist. Those informal workers may be doing the same work and the same amount of work as regular workers, but they are not paid as much as regular workers.

The minimum wage in Japan is not enough to support a normal life. It costs about 1,060 yen per hour, which is only about seven or eight dollars.

ALR: There are also many part-time student workers and migrant workers. Can you talk about their situation?

Kotaro Aoki: Regarding student workers, they work in places like supermarkets, restaurants, and restaurant chains. The reason they joined us was because the conditions were getting worse. Previously, students could rely on their parents for tuition and living expenses, but they can no longer rely on their parents because their parents' wages have been reduced. Meanwhile, tuition fees are rising every year. Many young workers are bankrupt because they can't pay their student loans.

That's why so many students are now working to avoid financial hardship after college. Another reason is that many student workers are seen as disposable, earning only minimum wage. The discriminatory wage gap is why student workers are outraged.

For migrant workers, there are two groups. One is foreign workers from the US and Europe, they are professionals. This includes many language school workers and English teachers. Their working conditions are not good and they may be fired at any time. Many of these workers were in their twenties and thirties and had seen the labor movement in their own country, which was what motivated them to join the Japanese labor movement.

The second group of migrant workers comes from other Asian countries. They work as so-called "technical interns", and since they cannot change jobs, the nature of their work has been criticized as slave labor. They're working in industries that don't pay well but need people to work, so they're also earning pretty much minimum wage; they can't really make a living because of the current high rate of inflation. Also, since the yen is currently weak, they can't send money home like they used to. This is the first time for technical interns to join Chundou.

ALR: I know that organizing informal workers is often difficult. How did you try to organize them?

Kotaro Aoki: Some unions tried to organize informal workers, but they were not very successful. One of the reasons why non-regular workers joined Chundou this time was the impact of the epidemic. It affects workers in the service sector, who are mainly employed on informal contracts. For companies, if they fire these non-regular workers, it will be considered unfair dismissal.

What they've done is keep these workers at home: no jobs, no paychecks. So a lot of informal workers can't make a living because they don't have jobs. The company refused to compensate them, even though it was legally obliged to do so. Many informal workers have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

Businesses that are still operating during the pandemic, such as call centers that employ informal workers, have a high risk of workers contracting the virus. We have received numerous calls and emails from these workers concerned about the risk of infection. So we organized the fight against these employers.

Informal workers have come forward to defend their rights, demanding compensation and safer workplaces. The media and the public support these workers. This may be the first time informal workers' struggles have gained momentum and public support, encouraging them to take further action.

16 unions of Japan's three national trade union federations (United: Japan Confederation of Labor Unions; CNT: National Confederation of Labor Confederations; and CWK: National Labor Confederations Liaison Council) joined forces this year for an unprecedented Participated in the spring fight. The pandemic has prompted them to build a solidarity movement and demand an equal 10% pay rise for both regular and informal workers.

ALR: What do you expect to happen next? Where will this movement go?

Kotaro Aoki: We will get responses to our appeal from companies in early March. We will prepare for strikes and take protest actions based on what those businesses say. We hope to continue doing this next year and then scale up by organizing more informal workers. The movement aims to achieve "equal pay for equal work," which has yet to be established in Japan.

It is a working class movement, especially for workers who occupy the lower echelons of the labor market. We will build a movement that focuses on issues like migrant workers, single mothers, people with disabilities that need to be addressed but have never been seen as working class issues. This movement can connect all of these issues as a common working-class agenda. This is what we ask for. We believe this will bring about a revival of the labor movement.

Original link: https://labourreview.org/organizing-the-unorganized/