ITF International Action Day in Japan

On 13 April, JRU affiliated unions across Japan waged a campaign to raise public awareness of what we were fighting for. The day was designated as an International Railway Workers’ Action Day by ITF, and railway workers around the world ran various campaigns all day with a slogan of “Campaigning for the Global Future of Rail – Strong Unions, Sustainable Transport.”

A total of 868 union members distributed 21,509 sheets of flyers at 67 locations in Japan. We called on the citizens to share the problems which unions have tackled such as safety, infringement of the right to organize including JRU7 Case and Gamagoori Case, JR Companies’ punitive retraining program, maglev train issues, eco-friendly railway systems, peace and human rights and so on.

The weather of the Action Day was so bad and sometimes snowy in the north part of Japan. However, union members were so much encouraged by those who paid warm attention to the campaign and gave some words, “You are doing well.” In the JR West area, a man came to the campaign team to shake hands. In JR Hokkaido area, a woman asked union members our fighting against false accusation and our cases. In the JR East area, a man urged the members, saying, “Unions should exercise the right to strike in order to ensure safety.” Maglev train issues illustrated by Central Japan Railway Workers’ Union and eco-friendly train issues raised by Japan Freight Railway Workers’ Union were also closely watched. We were glad to be given a warm response from the citizens.

JRU pledges to tackle above problems and fight on in solidarity with workers in many countries. We express the biggest “Thank you!” to all who joined the campaign action on 13 April.