The 13th Central Executive Committee Meeting/October 23, 2008
RENGO’s Statement on the International Financial Crisis
At a historical turning point
Let us steer toward Land of Hope, Japan
Japan Trade Union Confederation (RENGO)
1. Our understanding of the situation(Aspects of world simultaneous crisis)
Triggered by the subprime loan problems originating from the collapse of the housing“bubble” in the US, the world seems to be falling into a global financial crisis.
While some argue at this point that the effects on the Japanese economy will belimited, our fear is that given that the world economy and Japanese economy depends on areinterdependent, if the world economy stagnation turns out to be prolonged and serious, its
effects on the Japanese economy will also be immeasurable.
(The crime of rampant market fundamentalism)
The neoconservative policies aiming for a “small government” that were pursued by theReagan administration in the 1980s allowed the rise of market fundamentalism, leading to
the trend of placing importance on efficiency rather than fairness. With the rapid growth of
the American economy since the 1990s as a contributing factor, many countries followed theUS trend, leading to the formation of the “commonsense” that market
fundamentalism-oriented policies are the global standard. In addition, due to the spread offinancial capitalism (casino capitalism), money going beyond the real economy began to run
wild in the search for more wealth.
As a result, the foundation for a society based on social fairness and security/safety
was shaken. Throughout this period, social disparities widened and poverty increased.
Speculative money flooded the stock market and the principle of shareholder primacy hasspread, which led companies to urge to put excessive priority on returns for shareholders.
With this, the ties between stakeholders such as employees, local communities, businessconnections, etc., and companies have weakened. Labor’s share has also decreased.
Competition has become harsher than ever, with putting responsibilities overwhelmingly onindividuals, which resulted in a society filled with anxiety and distrust, and, brokencommunities.
(The end of market fundamentalism)
The excessive speculative behavior that has thrown the world into turmoil has followed a1

path toward its own destruction. The “collapse of Wall Street” signals the end of the market
fundamentalism that has been called the global standard.
Today, how companies should behave is in question.
(The world is poised to change.)
In what direction is the world moving? Where is Japan going? How should RENGO play its
proper role and fulfill its duties at this junction?
At the G8 Labor Summit held in Japan this year, we reconfirmed together ourrecognition of the danger stemming from the collapse of the middle class, which forms thefoundation of our society, caused by rampant market fundamentalism. We also came to aconsensus that trade unions around the world will make efforts in solidarity to achieve
decent work in order to mitigate poverty and unemployment that have spread around theworld.
There are high expectations in the US for the advent of a new administration underBarack Obama, who advocates “change.” The world is poised to change, and the US ispoised to change. Shouldn’t Japan change as well?

2. Toward the construction of Land of Hope, Japan(The time is now for a paradigm shift.)
We are at a historical turning point.
Our values need to undergo a fundamental transformation. A society based on
unfettered competition is not one where people can live. We need to form a broad nationalconsensus on building a society where the cooperative principles of “solidarity and mutualassistance” play its role. It must be a warm society based on consideration for others. We
should veer sharply toward the values that proclaim that a society without excessive pressure
is desirable, move from the principle of shareholder primacy to that of stakeholder primacy,
and from putting priority on efficiency and competition to creating Japan where fairness andsolidarity are regarded highly.
(RENGO’s mission and social responsibility)
In Japan today, it is essential that we begin to reconstruct a stable employment system andsocial security system that can be relied upon, and achieve a transformation to an economicsystem and economic and financial management that is based on domestic demand. We
should rebuild a large middle class and realize safe, secure, trustworthy and hopeful Japan.
In this era, where globalization has made immense progress, it is not possible toconstruct a social model based on the development of one’s own country alone. It is2

necessary, rather, to grasp poverty and unemployment around the world as a common
challenge and proceed to construct an international framework geared toward the realizationof the dignity of labor and a society with equity and fairness. It is high time for us to realize
the spirit of the ILO Philadelphia Declaration that “Poverty anywhere constitutes a danger toprosperity everywhere.”At this historical turning point, RENGO recognizes the social responsibility of tradeunions and will work toward the formation of a broad national consensus in order to achievea paradigm shift. Aiming at realizing a “welfare-oriented society based on labor,” we willplay our proper role as a driving force of the movement.

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