![]() That is the case of the Shutoken Seinen Union in Tokyo (SSU) – Tokyo Young Contingent Workers’ Union – which is affiliated with Zenroren, the second largest trade union federation in the country, closely linked to the Japanese Communist Party. Some of them remain independent, while others affiliate with the major labor unions, which are beginning to seize upon the issue of precariousness in an attempt to curb their decline. These precarious workers – many of them young people – assemble into rather small organizations. Graph by David-Antoine Malinas, Center for the Study of Social Stratification and Inequality, Tohoku University. Source: Department of Health, Labor and Social Services, General Survey of Union Organizations, 2009. Moreover, the percentage of union members in the labor force declined steadily throughout the entire period from 35 percent in 1975 to less than 20 percent by 2008. 1 Marginal though this may seem – Rengo, the country’s main trade union claims 6.8 million members – this trend is breathing new life into a defeated union movement: after remaining stagnant since 1975, during the "lost decade" beginning in the mid 1990s, union membership declined by 2 million to level off at 10 million people today. In contrast with the trend of deunionization prevailing in Japan (and many other countries) since the 1970’s, the number of unionized temporary workers rose from 400,000 to 700,000 between 20. While the country’s major trade unions are stagnating or losing workers, temporary workers, especially young people, have begun to create their own structures. ![]() Young Japanese Temporary Workers Create Their Own Unionsįrom the early 2000’s onwards, a new kind of trade unionism has been steadily gaining ground in Japan.
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