Japan Press Weekly

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2025 October 8 - 14 [LABOR]

Zenroren holds ‘Labor Union College’

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) held its first “Labor Union College” event under the theme, “Let us scale up Japan’s ‘militant’ labor movement to another level”, between October 11 and October 13 in Tokyo with more than 700 people, chiefly Zenroren activists, participating.

During the 3-day event, participants in 70 workshops and three session meetings exchanged their experiences and lessons learned from their activities with the aim of obtaining information useful to union activities.

On the second day, Ellen D Friedman, chair of the Labor Notes board, a U.S. organization offering training and resources for rank-and-file union members, as a panelist took part in a session themed, “Who will shape the future of the labor movement?”

Friedman said that activists in the Zenroren movement will shape the future of the labor movement, adding that the key is whether workers can confront challenges they are facing in their workplaces.

She also said that labor movement organizers should help workers to overcome division and fear so that they can stand up to fight for their rights.

Participants from Zenroren-affiliated unions reported on their efforts.

Shiomori Mayumi, a member of a union which organizes non-regular municipal workers in Aichi Prefecture, said, “Together with three of my coworkers, we established our own union at our workplace. Since then, our voices have been heard by the administrator. The trade union is a magic tool needed to promote workers' rights.”

Matsui Yuki, an activist of a union organizing individual workers working in Tokyo’s Koto Ward, talked about her experience of increasing the number of union members through labor counseling activities.

Regarding labor counselling activities, Friedman said that when providing labor counselling, it is important to ask consulters whether anyone else is facing the same problem. She went on to say that this will help build a movement involving many other workers having the same demands.