November 16, 1999

Kiyoshi SASAMORI
General Secretary
Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC-RENGO)

1. On 16 November the vote was taken on the revised bill at the Committee on Commerce and Industry of the House of Representatives. Later, the bill was passed at the plenary session of the House and then was sent to the House of Councilors. In order to rectify disparities in productivity between large and SMEs, the usual idea of the support uniformly turns to recognition that SMEs with variety and vitality are the resource of economical development. The bill composed of thirty articles comes up with new policies of which support for the enterprises that make own efforts such as management reform and the support for starting business and venture businesses. The bill also was the first bill for 26 years to reconsider the extension of the scope of SMEs, mainly about raising up the level of the capital.
   
   
2. As regards the revision of the law, Rengo taking into consideration opinions of it's affiliates would make an effort to reinforce the bill in the following areas and then try to reflect them in the deliberation in the Diet session through the Democratic Party of Japan:

   i.		While it goes without saying that policy should be taken suited to the change of economical situation, it is necessary to cope with carefully so that not only powerful and well-performed SMEs are supported.
   ii.		It is important to strengthen existing SMEs while supporting entrepreneurs and venture businesses.
   iii.		It is necessary to strengthen the Antimonopoly Act as a measure to regulate the condition for the market competition and to establish faire trades, in more concrete sense to revise the Subcontract Act.
   iv.		The management bases should be strengthened in connection to the basic law for manufacturing technology foundation build-up.
   v.		The classification of employees by industries should be reexamined.
   vi.		Relevant laws should be improved n the view of narrowing the disparities in working conditions between major enterprises and SMEs.

   
   
3. As a result, the supplemental resolution was unanimously adopted, which provides that adequate measures should be taken in the are of 10 issues. However, it should be done very carefully to interpret "workers employed on full-time basis in the retail industry" so that there will be no inconsistency between labour policy and SMEs policy, which is currently interpreted as those who are employed more than 2 months working as long as regular workers. The bill also provides that a measure should be taken to support employers who make effort to secure employment, to create job opportunities, to improve working conditions, to ensure the succession of skills and techniques and to promote basic technology. And it provides in the area of excluding unfair trades that the Antimonopoly Act and the Subcontract Act should strictly and timely implemented. Taking into account these points, the bill should be highly evaluated in the view of clarifying future challenges.
   
   
4. Rengo will strengthen the approach to the Democratic Party of Japan in the view of ensuring thorough deliberation at the House of Councilors in order to realize measures to give the vitality to SMEs and then to the economy as a whole not by spending recklessly but by careful SMEs policies. In doing so, Rengo will request for SMEs measures to vitalize SMEs and to secure the employment in the second supplemental budget and for the fundamental revision of the Antimonopoly Act and the Subcontract Act in the forthcoming regular session of the Diet.