1. RENGO will strive to reduce working hours and implement policies to ensure a work-life balance for all working people.

(1) In order to establish a working pattern that allows a balance between working and family life, RENGO will, from a trade union perspective, issue a Declaration on Reforming Working Patterns and conduct a broad campaign. Specifically, RENGO will:

(a) Pursue a social consensus among government, labor and management at the central and local levels;

(b) Set a “work-life balance index” from a trade union perspective and promote its application to public contracts and business transactions; and

(c) Monitor the efforts of individual companies, including follow-up on action plans under the Law for the Support of Coming Generations.

(2) RENGO will call for policies and systems for realizing a work-life balance, including reductions of working hours, and the establishment of tax and social security systems that are neutral to working patterns.

(3) RENGO will strengthen activities in line with the new “mid-term policy for reducing working hours” with the aim to achieve an annual target of 1,800 working hours. To reach the “minimum goal” in particular, RENGO will encourage the industrial federations to give reports on their targets for reducing working hours, implementation plans, and progress.

2. RENGO will concentrate its efforts on improving overall working conditions in order to reform working patterns and raise workers’ standards of living.

(1) RENGO will organize the Spring Struggle for a Better Life in a way that focuses on the improvement of working patterns, including wage increases and the reduction of working hours (including an increase in premium rates), raising the living standard of people in lower wage brackets, including unorganized workers, and redressing disparities between large and small trade unions. Large unions will, as one of their social responsibilities, provide support for raising the standard of living of workers and redressing disparities.

(2) In collaboration with smaller unions, RENGO will strengthen its activities to redress disparities, including through the setting of a target point and level.

(3) To promote collaboration with part-time workers, RENGO will prepare for the joint struggle and consider making a demand for an absolute wage level.

(4) In partnership with the Informal Labour Center (tentative name), RENGO will conduct a social campaign to secure an hourly pay rate to be pursued for part-time workers (\1,000 per hour for every worker) and realize equal treatment, and will provide labor consultation services by phone.

3. RENGO will make efforts to secure a livable minimum wage.

(1) RENGO will seek to increase the regional minimum wage significantly to a livable level (RENGO Living Wage). For this purpose, RENGO will conduct a social campaign to raise public awareness.

(2) RENGO will work to newly establish a minimum wage level for tertiary industries, including care and service businesses.

(3) RENGO will promote the conclusion of an in-house minimum wage agreement for all workers, including part-timers.

4. RENGO will seek to improve business transactions to raise the living standards of workers and redress disparities.

(1) RENGO will conduct a survey of business transactions to gain a grasp of problems they entail and will make efforts to improve them, and hold a forum for redressing disparities in business transactions.

(2) RENGO will monitor business transactions in the workplace, including whether delivery dates and unit prices are reasonable, to clarify what problems exist and then to solve them.

5. RENGO will seek to establish work rules that can respond to diversifying employment patterns and working arrangements.

(1) To secure the employment and working conditions of agency workers, RENGO will launch efforts to have the Worker Dispatch Law revised in a way that reflects RENGO’s views.

(2) To secure the employment and working conditions of contract workers, RENGO will keep companies and contract workers informed of the “guideline for improving employment management for manufacturing contractors” drawn up by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.

(3) RENGO will conduct surveys and monitoring of actual working conditions for agency and contract workers and promote labor-management consultations.

(4) RENGO will make further efforts to protect foreign workers and respect their human rights, and promote a drastic reform of skill training programs and apprenticeship or internship schemes in line with RENGO’s views on the problems involving foreign workers.

(5) As to the revision of legislation on working hours, RENGO will continue to act based on the belief that it is neither necessary nor acceptable to create a new system that excludes the application of working hour regulations. This view was confirmed at the 9th Central Executive Committee Meeting in June 2006.

6. RENGO will work toward the expansion of employment safety nets in response to company reorganizations and the diversification of employment patterns.

(1) In response to company reorganization, including business transfers and mergers, RENGO will seek to improve legislation concerning the transfer of labor contracts, industrial relations, etc., to protect workers.

(2) To protect workers’ employment and working conditions during corporate acquisitions by investment funds, RENGO will call for the enactment of legislation concerning industrial relations, including the definition of investment funds as an employer.

(3) RENGO will seek the improvement of safety nets so that they can respond to diversifying employment patterns and working arrangements, including securing work safety for multi-job holders and the application of labor and social insurances.

(4) To protect workers in the event of corporate bankruptcies, RENGO will call for the enactment of legislation to (a) place a portion of workers’ claims ahead of taxes and public dues, and (b) expanding the range of workers.

7. RENGO will call on the government to strengthen measures for keeping workers’ mental health and preventing death and suicide from overwork. In addition, RENGO will strengthen its efforts to maintain workers’ mental health. RENGO will also seek to establish a safety and health management system that can properly respond to the diversification of employment patterns and the qualitative and quantitative changes in operations, and to realize a work environment that can alleviate anxiety for all working people, regardless of company size.

8. To strengthen efforts to foster core human resources, including the handing down of techniques and skills, RENGO will call on companies to enhance their vocational capability development. In order to redress disparities in opportunities for vocational capability development, RENGO will also call for the expansion of capacity building measures for non-regular workers, including part-time, fixed-term, agency and contract workers. To this end, RENGO will encourage the participation of trade unions in formulating education and training plans for companies, industry organizations and public vocational training facilities, and measures for supporting career development.

9. RENGO will work actively to resolve the employment problems of young people, including so-called freeters (job-hopping part-timers) and NEETs, senior citizens and the disabled.

(1) RENGO will call on the government to continue to implement measures for stabilizing youth employment, including by giving formal employment opportunities to older freeters who graduated from university in difficult times, and motivating NEETs to work.

(2) RENGO will call for the creation of a work environment where people can continue to work up to the age of 65 if they wish to do. For this purpose, the Law for the Stabilization of Employment of the Aged should be reviewed.

10. RENGO will actively push for reform of the judicial system, including the labor court system and the jury system (citizen judge system).

(1) RENGO will call for legislation to improve the labor court system, including provisions concerning the use of experts in labor and management as procedural deputies and the preparation of claim forms.

(2) To train labor judges and build their capacity, RENGO will work with affiliates and Local RENGOs to encourage union officials and staff members to participate in seminars offered by the Japan Industrial Relations Research Association.