Photo: Bright colored placards were shown on the stage, March 8, Tokyo.

On March 8 at Tokyo's Kudan Kaikan, RENGO promoted Gender-Equal Society at the 1999 Spring Struggle/RENGO Central Rally for the International Women's Day. Its theme was "Bring the Amended Equal Employment Opportunity Law/Labor Standard Law to the Workplace."
Approximately 1,000 participants eagerly listened to the reports and opinions to cope with the said laws, which will become effective in three weeks.

The illegal practice of small to mid-sized firms withdrawing from government-run welfare pension and health insurance on the grounds of financial difficulty is taking place nationwide. In addition, RENGO has received information through member unions and help lines that social insurance offices that originally were to supervise those illegal practices give suggestions and their tacit approval to prevent a drop in the rate of insurance collections.
RENGO has already asked the Social Insurance Agency to correct this practice and will work on this problem as follows.

1. Immediately poll affiliated organizations and local RENGO to grasp the situation.
2. Ask the Social Insurance Agency to correct the situation based on the results of the survey.
3. Discuss this problem with each political party and pursue the matter at the Diet.

From February 8 to 10, RENGO opened a Dispatched Labor Help Line for three days at three local RENGO in Tokyo, Aichi and Osaka, where the major dispatched labor markets exist.
The total number of consultations for the three days reached to 111.
The most common topic regarded problems resulting in dismissal and agreement, followed by exercising of dispatched workers' rights, and workers not covered by social/labor insurance.
Incidentally, RENGO Aichi reported that newspapers were the most effective medium through which people learned about the help line.
In order to achieve its demands for worker protection measures, RENGO will introduce supporting materials on the current state of dispatched workers and their troubles along with a group petition now being compiled to the Diet for deliberation.