RENGO at the 27th Central Executive Committee on 19 August confirmed its position on closing on New Year's Day of the year 2000, based on a principle it should be expanded from distribution/retail to the whole industries. RENGO will plan to investigate actual conditions of opening on New Year's Day and to make a demand for administrative organs.

1. Basic opinions and objectives

(1) The closing on the first three days of the year has taken a firm hold as a long-established custom. In particular the New Year's Day is provided as a national holiday that Japanese celebrate the beginning of the year, and it has become firmly established as the most important day in all the national holidays and as a day of happy home. Consequently in the case of unavoidable working, workers are paid extra.

(2) Having the understanding of conditions above, RENGO will take fast to our policy that it has maintained and will make it develop. That is, the realization of the policy demand for this year is as follows: the opening on New Year's Day is basically voluntarily refrained, except the indispensable area to the people's living. Then, with building up the system of the closing on the first three days of the year, we also try to build up the system of the closing on the New Year's Day as a special day.

(3) The national movement of "Let's take a rest at least on New Year's Day" means that we face to call for self-control of excessive competition and service in companies and each person's thinking about the convenience, the influence on workers and yutori (free from pressure). In addition to the view of the protection of the global environment, we aim at establishing and systematize the social custom of the closing on the New Year's Day with the national movement.

2. Actions for this year

Based on a principle that closing on the New Year's Day should be extended to embrace not only distribution/retail industries but also the whole, RENGO will take actions this year as follows:

(1) The RENGO headquarters level
- To investigate actual conditions of business hours on New Year's Day and decide on concrete action policies.
- To make demands to the relevant administrative organs, the business circles and consumer groups.
- To conduction an national attitude survey about the influence of the closing on New Year's Day by retails trade and on workers' lives and to organize awareness raising campaigns among members and general public.

(2) Affiliates level
- To strengthen collective bargaining.
- To make demands to the relevant employers' organizations.
- To organize campaigns among members and to take actions to acquire the understanding among the customers.

(3) Local RENGO's
- To make demands to the relevant administrative organs and business circles and consumers' groups for their understanding.
- To do lobbying in local assemblies.