ILO Complaint : Violation of the Trade Union Rights and Civil Liberties

01 August 2003

Mr. Juan Somavia,
Director-General
International Labor Office

ILO Complaint : Violation of the Trade Union Rights and Civil Liberties

August 1, 2003
Dear Mr. Somavia

Japan Confederation of Railway Workers’ Unions (JRU), and its affiliates, East Japan Railway Workers Union (JREU) and JR Toukai Union are currently facing a tremendous difficulty to carry out our union activities due to a series of actions by the police, prosecutors, and judicial authorities against us since the November, 2002 to date. Under the name of “crime of compulsion,” an ordinary penal allegation, and under the name of the alleged violation of “the Law on punishment against violent acts etc.”, they have conducted the arrest and long-term detention of union members, domiciliary search on union offices and union officers’ residences, and confiscation of many union related documents and items. We believe that these provisions of criminal laws are intentionally applied with the authority’s objectives to obstruct and intervene due union activities. Moreover, various actions are continuing to be imposed by the authorities under the pretext of investigation, but we believe that the real intention of them is to weaken our unions.
The government of Japan that has ratified ILO Conventions No. 87 and 98 is obliged to take measures so that due union activities are guaranteed without any unjust interference or obstruction by the state agencies.

Regarding whether the indicted union members’ acts are in the scope of crime in accordance with the criminal law or in the scope of normal labor union activities, the lawsuit is currently underway to bring a judgment, and we are determined to prove the union members’ innocence in court. We therefore would like to request, in this complaint, the ILO to urge the Japanese Government to stop specifically the obvious obstruction and intervention against our union activities by the authorities in relation to these cases.

1. Undue arrest and long term detention of union members (November 1, 2002-present)

　On November 1, 2002, the Public Safety Department of Metropolitan Police Agency arrested and indicted the following seven on crime of compulsion.

　Kunio Yanaji 53, a full-time union worker
　Satoru Yamada 29, a train driver
　Jyun-ichi Uehara 40, a train driver
　Shuichi Saito 30, a student at Technical college
　Kakunori Oguro 29, a train driver
　Tomio Yatsuda 43, a train driver
　Keiitsu Ohma 52, a train driver

* Age and occupation are at the time of arrest

　The above seven have been detained for more than nine months to date. The incident started from one union member from the sub-branch of Urawa Electric Train Depot, an organization under East Japan Railway Workers’ Union (JREU, an affiliate union of JRU) Omiya region Urawa branch. The said union member didn’t follow policies of the union, and repeatedly behaved against the union. Through discussion with other union members, the sub-branch of Urawa Electric Train Depot tried to persuade the said union member to stop aggressive actions against the union. However, the said union member did not respond to any discussion in a sincere manner, continuously lying to other union members. Therefore, the sub-branch of Urawa Electric Train Depot went ahead with a procedure to let him leave the union upon the said member’s own request. Needless to say, there was no violence involved.
　However, the Public Safety Department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Agency applied the crime of compulsion to this case after the said union member seceded from the union and later resigned from the company. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Agency carried out the arrest and compulsory investigation in November 2002, one year and eight months after the incident. The definition of the crime of compulsion is as follows: Those who threaten a person through a notification of imposing harms to one’s life, body, freedom, honor or property, or force a person to do non-obligatory matters or hinder a person from exercising one’s right through violent means shall be sentenced to prison to no more than three years (Article 223)
　Apart from the seven members’ arrest, the Public Safety Department carried out a domiciliary search at 53 spots including the union offices and union officers’ residents, confiscating 1008 items such as union members’ lists and other union properties. However, most of the search spots and the confiscated items had nothing to do with the allegation, and the JREU officers’ residents, cars, and even bodies became subject to compulsory investigation.
　On November 22, 2002, the Tokyo Public Prosecutor’s office indicted the seven, and their trial has been underway at the Tokyo District Court. In this trial, we insist that the crime of compulsion on the criminal law cannot be applied in this case, and now we are carrying out our defense actions seeking innocence of all the seven members.

2. A large scale search and confiscation of union properties without any relations with the allegation (June 12, 2003)

　On June 12, 2003, the Public Safety Department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Agency conducted a domiciliary search at 18 spots including the union offices and residents of union officers, confiscating 538 items.
　The reason of the search was a minor trouble which took place on June 21, 2002 , caused by the company’s intervention against handing out fliers, a part of union activities. On that day, JR Toukai Union members who belong to JRU handed out fliers protesting an unjust transfer of a union member, and JRU also dispatched its union officers. The manager of JR Toukai company persistently followed the union members who handed out the fliers, repeatedly checked and threatened the participating members, and even followed all the members in a group who had just finished their actions. Therefore, one JRU union officer protested the manager of the company stopped him holding his arm. One year after, without any notice, the Public Safety Department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Agency abruptly conducted a large scale investigation and confiscation with the pretext that this act from one year before should be accused since it was violating “the Law on Punishment against violent acts, etc.”

3. Issues that needs urgent solutions

　We do not believe that union activities are immune to the ordinary criminal law, yet we are fighting in the domestic court to prove that the crime of compulsion does not apply to the incident of Urawa Electric Train Depot. However, it would take a long time until the final judgment is to be brought, and until that time, infringement on various labor union rights and basic human rights is predicted to become greater. Accordingly, we would like to strongly demand that the following measures should immediately be taken.
　First, the detention period of the arrested seven went beyond nine months, and the infringement on the citizens’ freedom has become a grave one. Payment from the company for the detained union members are suspended, while some have small children, and during this time, the families of the seven are suffering great loss both mentally and materialistically. Also, visitors who can see the detained union members are limited to their families and their attorneys, and union officers and union members are not allowed to see them. This also unduly limits the activities of the labor union, and this kind of undue detention must be halted immediately.
In the opinion regarding the request for bail to the Court, Tokyo Public Prosecutor’s office insisted the possibility of evidence destructions based on the fact that the JREU had been not only uncooperative, but also critical during the whole process of the investigation in this case. Furthermore, responding to this opinion, Tokyo District Court dismissed their request for bail. It is clearly an infringement on basic rights of labor union to keep detaining union members for such reason that the union has been critical to the investigation done by the police and prosecutors.
　Secondly, consecutive union officers’ house investigation and massive confiscation of union properties have created tremendous obstacles against our union activities. On the search warrant, all sorts of items are listed as materials endorsing “formation, history, principles, doctrine, policy, organizational structure, activities and finance” of JRU, etc., and items totally unrelated to the allegation of “crime of compulsion” or “law on punishment against violent acts, etc.,” have been confiscated. This includes such items as lists of union members, accounting books, bank accounts, documents related to trials, legal action documents for Labor Committee, computers, mobile phones, pocketbooks, files, books, and magazines, etc.
Due to this confiscation of these indispensable properties for the union activities, there is a tremendous amount of negative impact on daily union activities. Especially, the confiscation of the trial related materials of the arrested seven by the Public Safety Department in June 2003 hinders our union’s court activities to protect the union members.
　Also, it is undue intervention to collect information on ordinary activities of our labor union, and personal information of the union officers and union members through confiscated materials.
It is necessary to have the unduly confiscated union property returned immediately and also to have the authority make a commitment not to repeat this sort of undue intervention and obstruction on union activities under the name of investigation.
Thirdly, through the series of incidents, fear against JRU was instigated, undermining its social reputation, which creates an irreversible loss.
The police conducted a massive domiciliary search for a minor allegation even more than one year after the alleged incident took place, arrested the seven union members, and made a one-sided announcement to the media. In the announcement, there was information regarding the involvement of extremists, which are not even in the bill of indictment. These facts clearly show the authority’s intention to make our labor union isolated and weakened in society.
Assaults on the labor union under the pretext of criminal investigation should never be forgiven.

4. The status quo of the legal procedures in Japan

　The trial of the detained seven union members in the Urawa Electric Train Depot has been underway in the Tokyo District Court.
　During this period, the repeated requests for the seven members’ bail have been dismissed by the Tokyo District Court due to the alleged possibility of destruction of evidence and escape. Against this decision, the union made an interlocutory appeal, which was also dismissed.
　On June 26, JRU filed an application of quasi-interlocutory appeal to the Tokyo District Court claiming that the warrant for the June 12 search was illegal. The result of that appeal has not yet been decided.
　After the quasi-interlocutory appeal, however, the Public Safety Department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Agency started to return a part of the confiscated items, saying, “These were not necessary.”
　We have been repeatedly requesting to the related authorities to halt their inappropriate actins against our union, and the General Secretary of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), David Cockroft, has also sent a letter to Prime Minister Koizumi requesting that proper measures be taken. However, as of today, there has been no response from the government of Japan. We would appreciate your immediate action on this issue.

Yuji Oda
President, Japan Confederation of Railway Workers’ Union

PS: Attached documents shall be sent at the earliest possible stage.