Photo: Attendees talk about what labor unions should do with C.100 aid.

On March 8, RENGO held the 3.8 International Women's Day Central Rally at Kudan Kaikan Hall in Tokyo. The rally, which gathered 800 attendees, was held under the joint auspices of RENGO Tokyo, the Equal Employment Forum and supported by the ILO Tokyo Branch Office and the ILO Association of Japan. Japan ratified ILO Convention 100 (Equal Remuneration Convention) in 1967. Since then, differentials by gender have not yet been abridged in real life. At the rally, participants discussed the background of the situation along with how the Convention 100 could be used as leverage for the labor movement.

Representing the organizers, General Secretary Kusano gave an opening speech in which he stated, "let all men and women work together as one in order to correct wage differentials and establish principles for equal treatment." Following that, a message of solidarity was delivered on behalf of Mitsuko Horiuchi, ILO Tokyo Branch Office Director and Special Regional Advisor on Gender Issues.
A symposium followed with the theme of "Toward Correcting Wage Differentials by Sex and Establishing Principles for Equal Treatment." Panelists included RENGO Vice President Mitsuo Nagumo, attorney Michiko Nakajima (Equal Employment Forum Steward), House of Councilors member Masako Oowaki (Secretary General of the Japanese Parliamentarians' League on ILO Activities). Some recommendations were made during the panel discussion including the correction of differentials through Positive Action* and the revision of objective job assessments. (*Activities included in the revised Gender Equal Employment Opportunity Law that each business voluntarily and actively promotes in an effort to dissolve differentials.) Also, participants presented various opinions from the floor including, "women are first-rate workers but only receive third-rate treatment. Things definitely need to improve." Finally, Assistant General Secretary and symposium coordinator Seiko Hayashi wrapped up the discussion by saying, "these were marginal issues for the labor unions until now, but from now on, we should put these issues in the center," and closed the rally.