At the 18th Central Executive Committee Meeting held on January 12, RENGO endorsed its principles to achieve RENGO Demands on Policies/ Systems at the 151st ordinary Diet session. RENGO will develop its activities around the following three important issues: (1) achieve a 2001 fiscal year budget that incorporates job creation measures, (2) lay the foundation for a safe and secure social security, and (3) revise the Child-Care/Nursing Care Leave Law into the "Career and Home Balance Assistance Law."

1. Ordinary Diet Session Circumstances and Issues
(1) The Japanese economy marked positive growth for a second consecutive quarterly due to the recovery of capital investment in early 2000. However, the recovery slowed after summer because of a decrease in public investment and housing investment, sluggish exports, a slow down in capital investment, dampened consumer spending and so forth. Economic conditions for the time being are marked by an increased murkiness.
Every citizen, including workers, holds dim prospects for Japan's future having to confront job anxiety over the worst employment conditions in the postwar, lifestyle fears due to government reductions in social security benefits and an increased burden in individual cost, as well as a general distrust of politics.

(2) At the end of the last year, the government/ruling parties decided on the 2001 fiscal year budget, large-scale and approximately equal to the initial 2000 fiscal year budget. It lacks any positive measures to dissolve the record unemployment and the unstable standard of living. The budget's public projects exceed \9 trillion 400 billion and are all doing the same conventional types of construction.
We must change the budget to center on stabilizing measures for employment and the standard of living; specifically, we must radically beef up job creating measures, reorganize public projects into social investments which relate to living standards that society seeks and so forth.
On the basis of actual conditions huge amounts of long-term accumulated debt by both national and local governments, the government should start financial structure reform in the fiscal year 2001 budget. This would include rank order expenditure disclosures, the introduction of a policy evaluation system, and the transfer of public projects to local governments.

(3) At this ordinary Diet session, the following items are planned for deliberation. 2001 fiscal year budget and budget-related bills are: the employment insurance package, the individual labor-management disputes settlement bill, the child-care and nursing care leave law revision bill (tentative), an administrative reform package, the basic law on forest and forestry (tentative), etc.
Non-budget bills include the following. The corporate pension bill, the shorter working hours revision bill, education reform package, the basic law protecting personal information bill, an IT package, total emission reduction of nitrogen oxides from automobiles revision bill, and the defined contribution annuity bill (a Japanese version of 401k). Further, a deliberation on the ratification of the ILO conventions is also planned.
RENGO will especially seek to back up its response to those bills included in the 2001 fiscal year budget, including the career and home balance assistance bill, the employment package, pension package, and the education reform package.

(4) Due to opposition by the Liberal Democratic Party, RENGO has unsuccessfully been asking the government to hold a "government-labor meeting" and an "Employment Promotion Council for Government, Labor, and Management" for the sake of implementing job creation measures and reforming social security into a secure entity.
With more than 70% of the nation has expressed "no-confidence" in the Mori Cabinet the government and ruling parties still ignore the people's voices and contrive to maintain conventional pork barrel politics.

(5) To overcome the working citizens' anxiety over living standards and employment, RENGO will seek economic recovery and the lowering of the unemployment rate to the 3 percentile at the 151st ordinary Diet session. The main political issues which must be achieved for a breakthrough are: implementation of employment creation measures led by the government/local governments, restructure of the foundation of the social security system to relieve future anxiety, correction of an unfair tax system, and so forth.
RENGO will set special importance on "job creation and stabilization," "building a social security system," and "revising the Law on Child-Care and Nursing Care Leave into [Career and Home Balance Assistance Law]" and RENGO will develop activities to achieve them.

2. Focused Issues on Policies/Systems Demands
(1) Radically fortify measures for job creation and stabilization to pull down the unemployment rate to 3 Percentile in the 2001 fiscal year budget.
Implement employment creating new projects necessary for society. Immediately conduct projects that will generate more than 1.4 million jobs including 400,000 nursing care/welfare related jobs on the initiative of the government and local municipal governments. Furthermore, operate occupational training for new graduates with no jobs on a scale of 20,000 and 400,000 for wholly unemployed people. Promote revision that supports smooth re-employment for workers compelled to leave their jobs due to changes in the economic/industrial structure.
Clarify employment measures so they will not trivialize the stabilization/maintenance of long-term employment along with the expansion of support for labor mobilization.
Also, push legislation for business owners' responsibility to commit to re-employment support and secure checks not to promote quick dismissals.
Regarding the stipend system in the three programs within the employment insurance, subsidize the job skill development for people on jobs from the national treasury. In this way, improve the system through such activities as supporting education for switching jobs targeting workers who have jobs.

(2) Construct a safe and secure social security system by immediately raising government liability on basic pensions to one half, implementing radical reform of the medical care system, and expanding supporting measures for the nursing-care service.
Immediately raise government liability on basic pensions to one half and change it from being an insurance system into a tax system as soon as possible.
Have radical reform conducted on the medical care/medical care insurance system in the 2002 fiscal year.
Especially aim to create a foundation and implement a new medical care system for the elderly as an alternative to the current health care system for the aged and submit related bills to the Diet through the Democratic Party of Japan. Carry out projects to improve nursing care service where the government does not discriminate on benefit payments for the implementation of the nursing care insurance system or collecting insurance premiums.
Reform the current corporate pension system through the abolition of the "substitute system" of Employee's Pension, correction of differentials in the Employee's Pension Fund and the Tax-Qualified Pension Plan, abolition of the Special Corporation Tax, and so forth. Further, submit to the Diet through the Democratic Party a new "corporate pension basic law (tentative)" that clearly protects the right to receive insurance benefits, a payment guarantee system, fiduciary responsibility, etc.

(3) Support the "Career and Home Balance Assistance Law" and promote shorter working hours.
Revise the Child-Care and Nursing Care Leave Law into the "Career and Home Balance Assistance Law" to include the following: expansion of eligible workers, shorter working hours, overtime limits, banning discriminatory treatment, and establish child and family care leaves.
Eliminate the wait for admission to day-care centers for small children. Improve day-care centers and after school care for children to meet various needs including infant care, overtime child-care, etc.
Exempt social security premiums for people taking nursing care leaves—health care guidance or physical check ups in accordance with the Child Mother Health Law will be at public expense.
Re-postpone and revise the Shorter Working Hours Promotion Law to realize a total of 1800 working hours per year. Furthermore, revise the Labor Standard Law to appropriately respond to "relief against extreme changes in work" due to the abolition of "women's protection regulation."

(4) Establish fair labor standards—enact individual labor-management disputes settlement legislation, fortify worker protection, make laws prohibiting labor condition discrimination due to employment patterns, ratify the ILO's main labor standards conventions.
Exercise legislation to establish an individual labor-management dispute settlement system at labor relations commissions in order to seek fair treatment for radically increasing individual labor-management disputes. At the same time, fortify protection for workers involved in changes in business organizations.
Also, prohibit discriminatory labor conditions based on employment patterns such as part-time workers, dispatched workers, contract workers, and so on. Establish a legal system that seeks to guarantee the expansion of rights and equitable treatment. Promote the ratification of the ILO Conventions which RENGO has given preference to, especially the conventions with the core labor standards; C.105 (Abolition of Forced Labor Convention), C.111 (Discrimination <Employment and Occupation> Convention), C.182 (Worst Forms of Child Labor).

(5) Change income tax into a comprehensive income tax system/enact NPO assistance tax system.
Abolish separate withholding taxes on profits from stock transfers to move from the current income taxation toward a comprehensive income tax. Also bring about an NPO assistance tax system and seek system reform to close loophole on lost profits from sales taxes.

(6) Promote educational reform through national participation.
Provide an overview of the education we are pursuing. Immediately form a "basic plan for education development" that allows for an allocation of teachers and the improvement of facilities, both for the sake of education that energizes children and to forge ahead.
Introduce an "education leave system" for parents in conjunction with the local community.
Promote early appointments of a school councilor system and reform the Board of Education system. Strengthen education that creates work values and morals.
Extend national discussion on the ideal and basic picture of future education of the Fundamental Education Law.

(7) Intensify environmental protection activities like promoting recycling measures, toxic substance reduction measures, etc.
The government and private sector must jointly strengthen measures for cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to promote the fight against global warming. Likewise, government and the private sector must fortify drastic emission reduction measures that reduce hazardous substances such as dioxin. They must also step up recycling activities of other goods following the Designated Household Appliance Recycling Law.

(8) Expand plans and implement measures on the following: enforcement of the anti-monopoly law to establish fair business practices, radical revision of the Subcontractor's Protection Law (to prevent delayed payments to subcontractors), expansion of subcontract development eligibility standards, and personnel training based on "the basic plan on fundamental technology in manufacturing."
Support circumstances that allow the filing of illegal facts to the Fair Trade Commission. Revise the contents of the subcontract businesses in the Law for the Prevention of Delayed Price Payment to Subcontractors, also seek the legal revision of eligibility to work in the information and transport industries. Also revise the eligibility of industries other than the manufacturing industry in subcontract development standards.
To promote the "basic plan for fundamental technology in manufacturing," push for the development and reform of fundamental technology for the revitalization of the "manufacturing industry" and fortify human resources development and personnel training.

3.Activities for Realization
(1) Setting Up Priority Issues
Narrow down the most important issues from all the major issues described above to establish and conduct mass actions for their realization.
Those prioritized issues are (1) realization of the 2001 fiscal year budget with built in measures for creating and stabilizing employment, (2) creation of a safe and reliable social security system including pensions, medical care, and nursing care problems, (3) revision of the Child-Care/Nursing Care Leave Law into the "Career and Home Balance Assistance Law."

(2) Radical Fortification of Mass Actions
Target priority issues and push ahead with mass actions and drastic intensification.
(1) By February: "Safe Living, Job Security" Mass Action Month for Correction (tentative)
Designate February as "Safe Living, Job Security" Mass Action Month for Correction (tentative), RENGO Headquarters, affiliate organizations and local RENGO will work together intensively on mass actions to realize our demands that are focused intensively on the following four policy demands;
a) Pay raises and shorter working hours, b) the creation of 1.4 million jobs and intensification of employment support measures, c) the construction of a safe and reliable foundation for social security which includes pensions, medical care, and nursing care problems, d) Legislation of the "Career and Home Balance Assistance Law."