14th RENGO Biennial Convention
Opening Remarks by RENGO President Nobuaki Koga
6 October 2015
Good Morning to everyone assembled. To all the attendees from the nationwide
affiliates, observers, advisors, related organization members, members of the media,
thank you very much for your hard work.
As you can see, we have President of the Democratic Party of Japan, President Okada,here today, despite his busy schedule. Also, we have Minister Shiozaki, Minister for
Health, Labour and Welfare, who will be speaking to us this afternoon. Also, as guests
from overseas, we have Brother Wienen, ITUC Deputy General Secretary, BrotherSuzuki, ITUC-AP General Secretary, Brother Evans, General Secretary of the Trade
Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC), Ms. Nishimoto, ILO Regional Director
for Asia and the Pacific, as well as representatives from 5 international organizations, 22
countries and regions, 30 organizations, 38 guests from around the world who are kindenough to have joined us this time in order to encourage us all.
Moreover we have here with us, from Council of Worker Welfare Associations Vice
President Yamamoto, from the National Association of Labour Banks President Nakae,
from the National Federation of Workers and Consumers Insurance Cooperatives,
Managing Director Hara, from Zenrousai Kyoukai, Managing Director Akutsu, and fromthe Japanese Confederation of Retired Persons President Abe.
To all the guests who have joined us, I would like to represent our organization in
thanking you all from the bottom of my heart, and express our appreciation to you all bya round of applause from all who are attending today. Thank you very much.
I would like to begin by touching on the ordinary session of the Diet which closed at theend of last month. On this 70th year after the end of the Second World War, this session,
which has become the longest since the end of the War, cast a dark shadow over the
future of this country. Regarding the general political challenges we face, I would like totouch upon it later on. I would like to speak about two in particular.
First, regarding the detrimental Worker Dispatch Act. By not dealing with job
stabilization and improvement of working conditions of the dispatched workers,
deregulation which allows haphazard increases of dispatched workers, has been forcibly
decided against despite many dissenting voices which, because the political situation
being such whereby the ruling party holds the majority of the seats, is extremely
disappointing. However, we must continue our thorough on-site inspections at theworkplace and steadfastly through our actions toward revision of the law, and need to
put an end to the further increase of dispatched workers who work under unstable andpoor conditions as we continue to seek the improvement of the treatment of dispatchedworkers.
Another is the Security related bills.

This began with the recent changes of the1interpretation of the constitution by the Abe administration. Many bills that have to dowith the fundamentals of the nation are lumped together, wholesale. During the Diet
deliberation, as the answers given during the Question session changed time and again,
the judicial world continued to point out that what was being attempted was
unconstitutional. Many in the nation could not remove their concerns and questions
regarding these bills and it was natural to raise our voices across the nation thatenactment ought not be rushed. Despite that, the ruling party did away with meticulous
formation of agreement, the deliberations were lacking, and they used the power of
numbers to push the bills through. The most important values of constitutionalism anddemocracy, had been cultivated from our past wrongdoing and sacrifices, were shaken
from their very roots by this methodology employed by the ruling parties and cannot
adequately be expressed as outrage. The people's trust in politics has been shatteredand this needs to be taken seriously by not only the ruling parties, but by all Diet
members.
At any rate, we must never forget what had taken place at the Diet. RENGO has, up
until now, been engaging ourselves in a nationwide rally to put a stop to the deteriorationof the workers' protective rules and have held numerous rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins
in front of the Diet, and on August 23rd, surrounded the Diet with the slogan, "No! to the
Abe administration!" and have engaged ourselves on various actions. We offer you all
our heartfelt thanks for your cooperation throughout.
However our fight, including bringing an end to the deterioration of the Labour Standards
Law, among others, will continue. As we look towards the continuing rolling attack
against the Abe administration which continues to depend the gap between itself andworkers and ordinary citizens, it is important for us to continue to join forces with one
another.
Well, as you are well aware, I will be retiring from my post as President at the conclusionof this Convention. Four years as General Secretary, 6 as President, all together 13
years including Vice Presidency, I have been engaging myself in the mission of
executing RENGO's movement. Without your collective guidance and support, I would
not have been able to fulfill my duties. May I take this opportunity to thank you all, once
again.
Therefore, as for this period's results and challenges, as well as future policies, May I
entrust the report and recommendations to the General Secretary and at this opportunity,
as my tenure comes to a conclusion, reflect upon the past decade or so and share withyou the challenges as I see them and the way in which the RENGO movement would
continue to proceed, as I wrap up my opening remarks.
Needless to say, RENGO has, from its very establishment over a quarter of a Century
ago, against the backdrop of the literally dramatic transformations in society, economy,
politics been calling for the paradigm shift in order to usher forth a fair and sustainable
society, whilst at the same time, painting the picture of the society as it ought to berealized by continuing our movement.
Especially, RENGO's movement during the past 10 years or so had been one in which a2

just society has been continuously pursued. It was 2003 when we received the final
report from the RENGO Evaluation Committee, headed by the now departed Mr. Kouhei
Nakabou. The report was a wake-up call stating, "has the labour movement simply
become one in which the workers' interests are voiced, but does not evoke thesympathy of the people." Further the report points out, "We must awaken to the changes
in society, move from only focusing on the solidarity of the union members, and take thebull by its horns and fight against absurdity, and need to metamorphosize itself into anorganization in which all workers will literally be able to realize solidarity with one
another."
Based on this, in 2007 RENGO established the "Center for Non-Regular Workers," andbuilt the united front for non-regular workers through the participation of all affiliates at
the Spring Labour Offensive and thereby made even clearer the deployment of our
movement for all working people, be they non organized or non-regular workers. Also,
toward a strengthened regional and local based movement which shows its face, wehave been engaging ourselves in creating the support stance necessary for the
resolution of issues that pertain to the daily lives of the workers through our allianceswith the reorganized local councils, the National Association of Labour Banks, Zenrousai
Kyoukai and the National Federation of Workers and Consumers Insurance
Cooperatives, amongst others. We've also implemented the "No!” to inequalities. Let us
create a secure society by bringing all working people into the RENGO Circle" campaign,and engaged ourselves, together with all of you, in the Spring Labour Offensive, Policy
and System realization, and the further expansion of our organization.
During this time, Neoliberalism and Financial Capitalism sweeps across the world, andovert competition has ushered forth anxiety and mistrust, as well as crises in our local
communities. The destination we were headed for was the 2008 World Financial Crisis.
We at RENGO continued to appeal to the world that we needed to take charge towards
a financial system in which societal fairness and security will be assured. This type ofactivity brought about the historical change in administrations.
Against that background, in the 2009 RENGO 20th Anniversary Project
recommendations, it was pointed out that it was a requisite to strengthen the roles andfunctions of the national center in order that it may be able to fulfill the expectations of
the society. Based on this, we established a major signpost in our RENGO movement,
the society which we envision, "a secure society based on work."
In order to universally spread collective labour management relations, the "10 Million
RENGO" realization plan was established, which serves as a common path. At
headquarters, through the establishment of a dedicated organizing team, affiliates andlocal RENGO organizations have been promoting activities and the fruits of the efforts
are evident in the numbers of organized members who were 8 million strong at the timeof the establishment, which had dwindled to 6.6 million, has now increased to 6.82
million.
The fostering of leaders who will be responsible for the coming generation, and theefforts in labour education, have been kept at the forefront of our minds, as "RENGO
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Graduate School" has begun classes this April thanks to the cooperation of Hosei
University. The University's endowed courses, due to the efforts of the local RENGO
unions as well, has been offered at 15 universities nationwide.
We must not forget March 11, 2011, that Great East Japan Earthquake and the relief
and reconstruction support extended to the region and its inhabitants. The relief
operations conducted by 35,000 union members who worked tirelessly as volunteers,
the nationwide donation campaigns, what could be done for those who were steeped inhardship? RENGO came together when that question was asked and the efforts
became one in which we transcended all boundaries. Even now, activities continue toassist the disaster stricken children of the region as well as support for the regions stilldealing with natural disasters. The circle of activities continues to widen.
In this manner, we at RENGO continue to challenge ourselves to deal with various
challenges, and the range of activities steadily grows. However, RENGO, even after aquarter of a Century, finds itself needing to face challenges yet still.
One of those has to do with to what extent each of the policies of the national center are
being relayed to the officers who stand at the frontline and who are responsible for the
movement at each of the workplaces and regions. I have had the opportunity, since
January of last year, through the cooperation of the affiliates and local RENGO
organizations, to repeatedly hold direct dialogues with young leaders and non-regular
workers from across the nation. One of the comments often heard was, "RENGO's
activities aren't adequately relayed to us." Of course, RENGO headquarters finds it
necessary to use our wisdom to transmit our messages better. However, we are notable to immediately solve this problem just by doing that. The fundamentals need to bethoroughly shared with each organization, including, "why is this movement necessary to
begin with?" as well as, "what is the significance of the efforts underway from theprospective of workplaces and regions?"
The second, to what extent are we able to transcend the notions of "our organization,""our company," "our industry?" Regrettably, we cannot help but say that we are still awork in progress. Of course, Labour-Management relations, negotiations, Consultative
Mechanisms and such will continue to be important. On the other hand, after the
bursting of the bubble economy, It is also true that the stance of Labour-Management,
which continues to pursue the survival of "our organization," "our company," "ourindustry" is connected to the negative fallacies of composition be it social or economic
disparities. It is true that the extent to which the effects of the tax system, social
insurance and environment are felt goes above and beyond what it used to be. For the
improvement in the way of working and the way of living we must go beyond the existingorganizational framework and look toward regions and the international community andactively engage ourselves in order not to be left behind, no matter how correct ourargument is.
Not only do the officers assembled here today, but also all the delegates, observers andeach and every one of you, represent RENGO. The RENGO seen by the Non-Regular
Workers, Non Organized Workers and the people of the local areas are representing our
4each and every action. We would like to confirm with you that it is necessary for us toexemplify that each and every one of us is the face of RENGO.
Switching perspective to the future of the society and our trade union movement. The
major challenges we face in the medium to long-term, as globalization becomes evermore ruthless, and as the society and economy matures, how is it that we will be able tosecure societal sustainability, and how ought we best exercise our roles in the tradeunion movement?
Through globalization, people, things, money and information continue to fly across theworld freely. On the other hand, disparity, poverty, ethnic issues, environmental andhealth issues, evince the fact that sustainability risks, in an instant, transcend borders toaffect us all. Against this backdrop, we are asked how we would be able to control
globalization to be fair. Macroeconomics, Employment, Labour, Environment, in various
fields, on various levels, the weight of various actors' participation, and the process ofthe democratic formation of agreement are ever increasing. From this point of view, therole that the international trade union movement must fulfill is extremely major,
continuing to make it necessary for us all to cooperate with like-minded trade unions andto actively participate and contribute to these processes.
On reflection, our country, is already finding itself in the midst of an ultra-aging society
and decreasing population phenomena. We have no time to spare to establish stability
in the areas of securing labor, finances and the stabilization of the social insurance
system. In order to surmount these challenges, virtuous economic cycles, including
overcoming deflation, and increasing personal income need to be fixed as we implement
policies toward the realization of a participatory society. At the same time, we, ourselves,
are being asked how we will take the initiative in reviewing the way in which we workand the treatment we receive.
For young people, women, the elderly, under fair treatment, to be able to work in anenvironment where they feel safe is a sustainable societal premise which must be
fulfilled. However, we see now that Non-Regular Workers make up close to 40 percent
of all workers and the current situation is such that over 11 million workers are earning
less than 2 million yen a year. Poverty and disparity are not only economic issues.
Society's stability and tolerance, the way that politics and democracy operates are also
very must related to these risks. For the sake of the sustainable society, raising andsupporting the minimum standard, correction of the disparities that exist are urgent
challenges we must resolve. We at RENGO have continued to appeal for theestablishment of the virtuous cycle which arises as a result of the increase in wages
which gives rise to increased personal income. We have been working on the formationof the societal agreement. In order to put this into motion, in the 2016 Spring Labour
Offensive, as well, as we deepen our considerations toward the raising of wages, theimprovement of Non-Regular Workers' treatment, there is also the necessity to further
promote the correction of the wage disparities between companies and between men
and women. Regarding the determination of the prevailing wages in each of the regions,increase of minimum wage, and the invigoration of SMEs and local regions, we willcontinue with the "Local Forums" held during the 2015 Spring Labour Offensive and5believe that it is important to further deepen the understanding we've received in thelocal regions.
Long working hours also need to be corrected. This is a major challenge. Every year,
just those cases we know of death from overwork and suicide from overwork number
over 100 persons. Many people are suffering from mental and physical disorders. Of
course, in order to protect lives and health, working hours need to be urgently reduced.
Also, the realization of the manner of work whereby time for family and community
activities is ensured is a condition which must be fulfilled in order that we might
surmount the issues of the maturing economy, the declining birthrate and the rapidly
aging society and the decreasing population. The realization of a society in which worklife balance is achieved, by providing working people the manner of working and theworking conditions which suit each life stage – we find it necessary to have in-depth
discussions and deeper engagements in these regards.
Also, technological innovation must be dealt with.
Information communication
technologies rapidly progresses. The application of IoT (the Internet of Things) and
Artificial Intelligence is breathtaking, as well. On the other hand, the concern being
pointed out is that technological innovation will bring about deterioration of employment.
What is important is to figure out how to realize a human way of working and continue tobreathe life into one's work. For that purpose, it is important to actively engage
ourselves in the exchange of opinions with workers, including the way in which macro
distribution ought to be.
At any rate, as maturation and declining population in the society continues, we need tominimize the disadvantages of these, and make use of the tail winds which blow, as we
pursue sustainability in society. In that regard as well, the trade union movement, needs
to understand the changing times, share a healthy sense of impending crisis, and makeuse of each of our wisdom, and we continue with our tireless efforts.
Regarding the political challenge, we are being asked how politics ought to be as weearnestly deal with the maturing society whilst at the same time, being questioned how
we will face the political realities.
Since the administration change in 2012, in the Abe administration, the policy thought
known as Neoliberalism which for a time seemed to have been suppressed, is once
again rearing its head.
We especially need to watch out for the obsessive thinking which focuses on policies
which deteriorate employment. The standpoint of viewing work as a way to products
and costs, that is, the conquering of the maturing society, and the worsening of workers'
protective rules which is incongruous with the notion of “a secure society based on work”
must be absolutely confronted.
More than anything, in politics today, we are decisively lacking the stance to sincerely
face differing opinions which I have just touched upon. Tripartism, an international
standard, is being looked upon lightly as Workers' Protection Rules are deteriorating.
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Even when we look at the operation of the Diet as the Security related bills were being
considered, that much is clear. Politics does not exist to fulfill the interests and desiresof the few. As differing opinions are respected, it ought to operate in a mannerconducive to pursuing the interests of society at large. In a maturing society, the bearingof burdens is being sought, as opposed to a sharing of the ever growing pie. It isessential that various values are harmonized. Even if it takes great effort, we must
discover the solutions by repeatedly conducting our earnest dialogue.
It is now, that we need politics that turn an ear to workers and citizens' voices. To that
end, we must come together as a political force in order that a change in regime might
be realized as we convert the status quo from the "one strong, many weak." It is truethat the peoples' trust has not returned to the Democratic Party of Japan. However, theDemocratic Party of Japan which stands on the side of citizens, taxpayers, consumers,
working peoples must become the focal point for all opposition parties to band together.
We have expectations of them that they will exercise their leadership in order tocoalesce basic historical views, societal views and policy principles.
In order to transform the current political situation, next year's House of Councillors(Upper House) election is an important step. As touched upon earlier, politics is directlytied to our way of working and living. Even if one decides one is apathetic when it
comes to politics, politics concerns us. To shake the pendulum of politics, voters
exercise their votes. We must appeal to everyone about this. We must share thepolitical challenges and their effects upon the workers, unionists, their families andcommunities and collect our strength and will in order to help our recommended
candidates, including the 12 candidates from the proportional representation districts
who represent us, in order that they will be victorious and put an end to the heavyhanded politics. We are also considering enfranchising those over 18 years of age and I
would like to add that how we engage ourselves as trade unions in the politicalparticipation of young people is also an important challenge which we must meet.
One of the important perspectives for the RENGO movement is discovering new truths
through scrutiny of the past. As a quarter Century has passed since the founding of the
JTUC-RENGO, the passing of the baton is indeed taking place from older to younger
generation. Do not seek to follow those who have come before you, but rather seek thatwhich those who came before you sought." Without realizing it, beliefs are left behind,actions become routine, we need to be conscious of this lest our movement's vital force
be weakened. The generation that will be the torch bearers of our RENGO movement,
may they occasionally revisit our origins, may they awaken to our mission and role andfor the sake of all working peoples and their happiness, may they recognize what ought
to evolve, what ought to be preserved which is of utmost importance.
In future society, many challenges await us. In order to proceed with the resolution ofchallenges based upon an understanding of the workers' voices, it goes without saying,that we must convert the level of those organized, and tie this to a further heightening ofor worker's say and actions.
The declining working age population, the organizing of Non-Regular Workers,
challenges are piled up. At every point, our priority is to increase the number of our7

brothers and sisters, and expand the circle of our movement. This is the basic functionof our trade unions.
At the same time, In order to further enlarge the strong societal swell of our movement, it
is also important to increase our alliances and collaboration with various organizations
and individuals as "work" ties us together. To "work" is not to only pursue efficiency andproductivity, not only a means of livelihood. By working, people become connected topeople, a connection between the workplace and society is a means by which to solve
challenges, it is a means by which to give birth to new values.
This leads to personal growth, promotes self-actualization, and, I believe, becomes theengine for heightening society's sustainability. Moreover, even if, for various difficulties,
one finds oneself facing difficulties whilst working, one can continue to exercise
autonomy in society with dignity, as one finds oneself supported by others and viceversa. That is why, as I've stated earlier, by transcending corporations, industries, andeven the framework of oneself as a "worker," as someone who lives in society, throughthe links with various actors, we are expected to fulfill our responsibilities in society.
In conclusion, I'd like to touch upon two expressions. First, when the Great East Japan
Earthquake occurred, one of the unionists from RENGO who volunteered said, "Eventhough it was an unfamiliar place, amongst unfamiliar faces, though I was anxious tojump in, because the RENGO flag was flying, I was able to feel at ease and participate."
The RENGO flag has the power to connect people to people.
Another is the voice of a female worker whose dispatched worker contract was
terminated who spoke up at a RENGO rally where we called for a stop to thedeterioration of Worker Protection Rules. After she appealed to the thousands
assembled about the harsh reality, she continued by saying, "However, RENGO is on
my side." Right there by our side, are our brothers and sisters who, under this harshenvironment that they find themselves in, espouse hope towards trade unions, towards
RENGO. We hear their voices, we must answer their pleas.
We are each weak. That is why we must help one another.
Trade unions, and RENGO, confront the injustice in the workplace and in society. We
are a collective that is made up of workers who promote our movement for the sake ofall working people.
We must, once again, become aware of our mission and role. Let us all take action
together.
The environment which surrounds us is not easy, by any means, however as we
recognize the changes in society, let us revisit and recognize the origins of our
movement. I expect from the bottom of my heart that we take that first step, once again,
as we work towards receiving the support of all people in society.
Thank you very much for your kind attention.

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