RENGO endorsed its "2nd Urgent Policy for 2000 Spring Struggle" at the 2nd Central Struggle Committee held on January 13.

1. Activities to Secure Employment
RENGO will redouble its efforts on the following issues. Based on the "Activities to save employment and labor conditions" plan endorsed at the 3rd Central Committee last December 9, it is essential that reorganization which unilaterally victimizes workers not be allowed. We will: (1) conduct strong labor-management negotiations to secure employment and labor conditions keeping in mind its application to workers in related businesses. (2) deal with matters such as concluding agreements to prevent information leakage so that management cannot evade pre-discussions under the pretext of insider-dealing. (3) pay attention to measures for the middle-aged and seniors who are the unfair targets of workforce downsizing. (4) conduct demand actions at local governments while continuing to monitor their influence to the local economy. (5) proceed with activities that guarantee the succession of labor unions' status and labor agreements.
For all of the above, RENGO headquarters is strengthening its connections with constituent organizations (i.e. industrial federations) and local RENGO more than ever, keeping close watch on actual conditions and proceeding activities that directly prevent the occurrence of employment problems.

2. Struggle Procedures Will Focus on Pay Increases
(1) Struggle activities at the preparation stage
During the first half of February we will hold an interactive rally at the local bloc level in an effort to make this Struggle's Principle known to everyone. Also, the President and the Secretary General will participate in each liaison council (consisting of members from related industrial federations) meeting to unite the collective intention of all constituent organizations by late February.
In the meantime, headquarters will prepare "the Focus of Labor-Management Negotiations 2000" in late January, which centers on countermeasures for small to mid-sized labor unions and activities to secure regular pay increases.
(2) Submission of demands
Labor unions, mainly affiliated unions, will submit their demands to their respective management by Friday, February 18 and all other unions will submit theirs to management by the end of February.
(3) Activities to strengthen pre-negotiations center on securing regular pay increases
Unions will conduct pre-negotiations with management immediately after submitting their demands, to confirm the amount of the pay increase and its implementation.
RENGO will conduct a survey of all unit unions on how to conduct these pre-negotiations by the middle of March. RENGO will prepare materials for these negotiations giving ideas about how much money is equivalent to regular pay hikes and how to calculate it. At the same time, RENGO will conduct a public campaign regarding this issue.
Constituent organizations must speed up providing data and guidance regarding regular pay hike equivalency figures. Local RENGO will hold learning sessions and so forth in order to provide small to mid-sized local unions with the necessary information.
(4) Establish an intensive answer period and tactical assignments
The period between Wednesday, March 15 to Friday, March 24 has been set aside as a period for intensive answering and aims to settle negotiations in March.
Small to mid-sized unions and local unions also are aiming for early settlements by trying to set pay hike negotiations ahead of schedule right after the pre-negotiations to secure regular pay increases. Therefore, local RENGO will also set up a period of time to encourage the settlement of local joint struggle negotiations until March 31.
(5) Activities for shorter working hours
RENGO will work on labor agreement issues related to working hours, such as revising Article 36 (overtime/holiday work agreement) of the Labor Standard Act at pre-negotiations.
(6) Activities to correct differentials
In order to make the correction of differentials an issue of general importance across the trade union confederation, RENGO will work to understand actual conditions and their mitigating factors through a "Forum on Correcting Differentials" and other activities. At the same, RENGO will pursue activities that improve business transactions by encouraging communication among unions so as to curb unaffordable orders especially from business partners.

3. Critical Policy Issues and Activities for the Ordinary Diet Session
(1) Employment and economic measures
The critical policy issues at present are measures to improve employment and boost the economy.
RENGO seeks to realize the One Million Job Creation measure, which was endorsed by the Government-Labor-Management's Employment Promotion Council, and promote activities among the government-labor-management, as well as labor-management at the local level. To this end, local RENGO are fortifying their efforts to target budget compilations at local assemblies that focus on measures to create jobs.
Further, RENGO is establishing a joint project with the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations (NIKKEIREN) to make employment measures concrete, and through local activities, will seek to fulfill its measures at opportunities such as the Government-Labor-Management's Employment Promotion Council.

(2) Measures for the ordinary Diet session
RENGO emphasizes the following issues at the current regular Diet session and step up its activities to focus on them.
1) Earmark additional funds for job creation and employment measures in the 2000 fiscal year budget.
2) Radically revise the government's retrogressive bill to establish a safe and reliable pension system.
3) Object to increasing medical treatment reimbursement fees in the medical insurance system and the patients' burden, while enforcing radical medical system reform in the 2000 fiscal year.
4) Enact the Worker's Protection Law in business structure reorganization.
5) Revise the Employment Insurance Act to establish a safety-net for employment.

(3) Urgent concrete activities
1) Set aside February as "National Unified Action Month" and support activities for our main issues to "Actualize a Safe Pension, Oppose Reimbursement Fee Increases, and Create Jobs."
2) Conduct a rally in the Diet and sit-in rallies before Diet Member Office Buildings on the opening of the 147th Diet session on January 20.
3) Hold a Central Pep Rally and sit-ins in front of the Diet in conjunction with the peak of deliberations on the Pension Bill. Also orchestrate emergency mass actions against forced deliberation on the Pension Bill at the outset of the ordinary Diet session.
4) Deploy street publicity campaigns both in central and local areas.
5) Conduct a signature-collecting drive to petition to the Diet. Working with constituent organizations (collecting signatures of union members and their families) and local RENGO (collecting signatures on the streets), collect 10 million signatures by the beginning of March.
6) Conduct rallies and symposiums on key issues like the Worker's Protection Law, judicial reform, and a circulatory economy.
7) Set up activities to monitor whether or not the Amended Equal Opportunity Law, Labor Standard Law, and others are being obeyed.