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Saturday 20, November, 2004 09:30 - 11:00, No.2 Conference Room Workshop C Trade Union Initiative Chairs: Shigeki Yamaguchi and Hajime Miyamoto Hiroo Morita All Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers' Union (JICHIRO), Japan ABSTRACT: In Yokosuka City, we have the local trade union council, a collective body of trade unions derived from the former General Council of Trade Unions of Japan (SOHYO). Organized within the All Japan Shipbuilding and Engineering Union, the All Japan Garrison Forces Labor Union, the Japan Teachers' Union and the All Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers' Union and others, the council makes efforts to deal with the local issues. In 1988, pneumoconiosis(asbestosis) victims in Yokosuka filed a lawsuit against the Sumitomo Heavy Industries Ltd., which was the first collective litigation case for workers' compensation led by trade unions. As a regional movement, the local council and related groups took comprehensive measures against the asbestos issue, not only against the defendant company but also for Yokosuka City Hall, the Labour Standards Inspection Office and courts, appealing to the general public in the region. The scope of lawsuits has become extensive as the All Japan Garrison Forces Labor Union filed another asbestos lawsuit against the U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base. The council believes it is necessary to raise public awareness of asbestos and its risks as a regional issue and to continue to help asbestos victims. Significantly, we, union members, have learned the asbestos issue through these efforts. In 1987, the city of Yokosuka had a program to eliminate asbestos from school buildings and other public facilities. At that time, we just saw the program without having any doubt as one of the national government orders. It becomes clear, however, that the government's program in those days did not deal with materials containing asbestos less than 5 percent at all. Based on the fact, the council conducts its own reviews in their workplaces, namely, all public facilities in Yokosuka City and sizes up the present situation of materials containing asbestos less than 5 percent, in parallel with the official review. Recently, some union members were exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from left condensers, revealing official's inadequate management of dangerous materials. We cannot help saying that it is not just a health issue of workers, or rather, one of the criminal acts, because those hazards happened in public facilities. We believe that we, trade unions, bear the responsibility to investigate and reveal the asbestos crime as it is. |