 Oppression in Japan
On November 1, 2002, Japanese police arrested seven members
of Japan Confederation of Railway Workers' Union (JRU) and detained them
for 344 days. In addition, the police searched 145 places
including our union offices and union officers' houses, and seized
approximately 3000 union documents and properties.
These oppressions have been implemented through false accusation
in which JRU allegedly committed acts of thread and compulsion even
though the seven JRU embers merely tried to persuade another union
members. In another case , when we protested against the company's
interference on our flyer distribution campaign, that action was framed
up as an act of violence. These are obviously unjust oppression against
ILO Conventions that guarantee the basic rights of labor unions and also
against the Japanese domestic laws.
The ILO has filed the above incidents as the Case 2304,
International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) also became the joint
complainant for filing a complaint to ILO. However, the government of
Japan has not shown its required observation.
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International Solidarity!
In the midst of fighting with oppression, we have learned how
important to create international solidarity. The voices of comrades in
the world lead to an achievement where the seven unionist were granted
bail in October 2003 after 344 days of detention.
We are convinced that what can stop "race toward the
bottom" and the authorities' oppression is the power of workers'
solidarity beyond national boundaries.
Your Signatures are Needed!
Currently, the trial of the arrested JRU seven is still
underway. We would like to ask you for your cooperation to provide
your signatures on our postcard campaign so that the Tokyo District
Court will respect the basic labor rights and come up with a sound
ruling.
*We will put stamps and mail the postcards with your signetures on.
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Attacks
on laborers and labor unions in the world
I is not only in Japan that is going through intensified labor
oppression. Infringements on labor union rights are frequently seen in
everywhere in the world.
According to the report of ICFTU, four union members were
killed and 1,250 were arrested / jailed in 30 Asian countries in
2002. As for 133 countries and territories in the world, 213
unionists were killed or went missing, 2,000 were arrested, 1,000
were injured, and 30,000 were sacked.
In Korea, contemptible oppressions have been repeated where union
officers who lead strikes were claimed for damages by their companies
with their properties being seized. In the Philippines, labor union
leaders who investigated the authority's wrongdoings were dismissed and
have been persistently harrased. In China, several people who tried to
make independent unions have been detained for many years.
The report also says, "the right of workers to organize is
constantly breached by employers, often with tacit or direct complicity
of the authorities." Corporations conspire with governments and
implement attacks against laborers and labor unions. |
No to Military Occupation in Afghanistan and
Iraq
The government of Japan is now trying to dispatch its
Self-Defense Forces, practically an army of Japan, under the pretext of
"reconstruction support" for Iraq that has been illegally
occupied by the US and UK armies. Such an action leads to a support for
George W. Bush who aims to suppress the resistance of Iraqi people and
consolidate Iraq into his own order of "the empire". At the
sacrifice of Iraqi people, multinational companies in the world have
been watching vigilantly for extraordinary amount of gains under the
pretext of rebuilding Iraq. We should never take part in such an
injustice.
JRU has opened an office in Kabul, supporting to people in
Afghanistan (such as vocational education for self-support, cooperation
for constructing the irrigation system), watching the reality of the
21st Century war. What we saw were endless armed conflicts, chain of
hatred, sacrifice and suffering of the people caused by the intervention
of superpowers.
We cannot overlook the process of the world to be destructed by
authorities who seek for blood and by corporate executives whose heart
is deprived by money. In order to make "another world," we
should make a step forward through solidarity with worldwide comrades. |
"Race
toward the bottom" and attack on unions
Why laborers' right to associate be regarded as an enemy for
corporations and governments?
What control the 21st Century world are gigantic multinational
corporations that have the same level of power as state governments.
Their sole intention is to make profits, and cheap labor is source of
their profits. Seeking for cheaper labor, multinational corporations go
all over the world.
Such kind of corporate actions have brought "race toward
the bottom." Laborers cannot help accepting lower wages,
less stable employment and deteriorated working conditions so that
they could stop their company's factory relocation to overseas. If such
a trend progresses in one nation, other countries do not have any choice
rather than accepting such situation. In this way, race toward the
bottom has been spread among workers worldwide.
The governments try their best to weaken labor unions depriving
their right and devaluate labor standards so that corporations will stay
in their national boundaries. The growing oppression against labor union
is an inevitable result of globalization lead by multinational
corporations. |
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