Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO)

Statement: Basic Survey on Labour unions for 2004

1. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) today announced results of the Basic Survey on Labour Unions as of 30 June 2004.The estimated unionisation rate is 19.2% (0.4% less than last year), with about 10,309 thousand (down 222 thousand) out of a total workforce of 53,710 thousand (down 20 thousand). The number of unions those are not federations or confederations is 62,805.
   
   The membership of RENGO is 6,726,000, 65.2% of the total organized workers, 80,000 less than last year.



2. Union members of private companies are 8.016 thousand (down 1.7% or 135 thousand). The estimated unionisation rate for companies with more than 1,000 workers is 50.6% (down 1.3%) with 4,615 thousand (down 81 thousand or 1.7%); the rate for companies with 100 – 999 workers is 15.8% (down 0.8%) with 1,988 thousand (down 520 thousand or 5.5%); and the rate for companies with less than 99 workers is 1.2% (the same as last year) with 311 thousand (down 8 thousand or 5.8%).
   
   The number of part-time workers is 11,070 thousand (up 90 thousand) out of which 363 thousand or 3.3 % are organised (up 31 thousand or 9.5%), 3.6% (up 0.3%) of the total organised labour force.



3. The total organised labour force has decreased by 2,389 thousand for last ten years since 1994 when the union membership was at the peak with 12,698 thousand. RENGO has lost 1,095 thousand members. The loss is mainly caused by insufficiency of RENGO’s efforts in organising unorganised, including those in small, medium and local enterprises and those in atypical employment such as part-time workers, as well as restructuring processes led by market chauvinism, which RENGO takes seriously.



4. RENGO is working on “Forming Unions: the Second Action Plan 21” aimed at expanding the membership by 540 thousand. The 44th meeting of the RENGO Central Committee held in November this year reconfirmed that RENGO as a whole should achieve the goal, including by organising part-time workers. Organising is result-oriented. RENGO will put the brakes on the drop of the membership and work on the expansion of members.