Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2009, published 99th ILC session (2010)

Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise Convention, 1948 (No. 87) - Japan (Ratification: 1965)

The Committee notes the comments of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC–RENGO) dated 22 October 2008 and 5 October 2009 and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) dated 26 August 2009 on the application of the Convention and in relation to the restrictions on check-off procedures in Osaka city. The Committee notes the 2008 observations of the Conference Committee on the Application of Standards.

Denial of the right to organize of firefighting personnel and prison officers. The Committee recalls its long-standing comments concerning the need to recognize the right to organize for firefighting personnel.

The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that it has revised the Order of the Organization and Operation of the Fire Defence Personnel Committee to include the establishment of a system of liaison facilitation. The Government also indicates in its report that it has made efforts to operate the Fire Defence Personnel Committee system appropriately by: announcing the operational conditions of the Fire Defence Personnel Committee in the previous year and the points of concern on the operational conditions through the notification to all fire defence headquarters at the beginning of the fiscal year; distributing brochures on the Fire Defence Personnel Committee system to all fire defence personnel across the country; and explaining the purpose of the Fire Defence Personnel Committee system points and the warning points of its operation at the nationwide training meetings of fire chiefs.  While the JTUC–RENGO has indicated in its comments that the Fire Defence Personnel Committee system has played an important role in improving the working conditions and environment of firefighters, it recalls that the main concern of ensuring the right to organize to firefighters has yet to be granted.

The Committee notes from the Government’s report that as of 31 March 2009 the Fire Defence Personnel Committee meetings were held in 804 fire defence headquarters out of 806 across the country. In addition, 748 headquarters made available to all fire defence personnel the summary of their deliberation including a Committee’s opinion to the fire chief. The number of the opinions submitted through the liaison facilitators rose to 4,131 (82.5 per cent) in the fiscal year 2008, from 2,833 (52.9 per cent) in the fiscal year 2005 when the system was introduced.  In addition, the number of headquarters notifying the result and the reasons of a deliberation to the personnel and the liaison facilities who submitted the opinion rose from 393 (48.4 per cent) in the fiscal year 2005 to 604 (75.1 per cent) in the fiscal year 2008.

The Committee notes that the JTUC–RENGO also indicates that there has been no progress on the issue of granting the right to organize to prison staff.  The Committee recalls that the functions exercised by prison staff should not justify their exclusion from the right to organize and further refers to the examination of the Committee on Freedom of Association with regard to this matter (Cases Nos 2177 and 2183, 329th Report).

The Committee recalls the importance it attaches to the right of all workers, including firefighters and prison officers, to form and join organizations of their own choosing. The Committee once again requests the Government to indicate in its next report the additional legislative measures taken or contemplated in order to ensure the right to organize to these categories of workers and in the meantime to permit their de facto organization without penalty.

Prohibition of the right to strike of public servants. The Committee takes note of the conclusions and recommendations reached by the Committee on Freedom of Association in Cases Nos 2177 and 2183 (354th Report, paragraph 992) to the effect that public sector employees, like their private sector counterparts, should enjoy the right to strike, with the possible exceptions of public servants exercising authority in the name of the State and workers employed in essential services in the strict sense of the term. Moreover, public employees who may be deprived of this right should be afforded appropriate compensatory guarantees.

The Committee recalls that it has expressed concern in the past at the lack of progress in this regard. The Committee notes that the Government indicates in its report that public employees benefit from the National Personnel Authority recommendation system and other compensatory measures, in compensation for restrictions on the right to strike and that the Supreme Court has maintained throughout its judgements that the prohibition of acts of dispute by public employees is constitutional. The Committee once again asks the Government to indicate in its next report the measures taken or envisaged to ensure that the right to strike is guaranteed to public servants who are not exercising authority in the name of the State and to workers who are not working in essential services in the strict sense of the term, and that the others (e.g. hospital workers) benefit from sufficient compensatory guarantees in order to safeguard their interests namely, adequate, impartial and speedy conciliation and arbitration procedures, in which the parties have confidence and can participate at all stages, and in which the awards, once made, are binding and fully and promptly implemented.

Reform of the civil service. The Committee notes that in Cases Nos 2177 and 2183 the Committee on Freedom of Association requested that the Government continue to take steps to ensure without delay the promotion of full social dialogue aimed at effectively addressing the measures necessary for the implementation of the freedom of association principles embodied by Conventions Nos 87 and 98. The Committee previously noted the establishment of a “Special Examination Committee” consisting of 17 members including three representatives from trade unions, in addition to representatives from private enterprises, academia and the mass media. The Committee notes that the Government indicates that after having held 15 meetings and having deliberated in four simulation group meetings, the Special Examination Committee completed the final report in October 2007. The report states that as main points of the reform the following: (1) establishment of autonomy in employee/employer relations by giving a certain range of non-industrial public service employees the right to conclude collective agreements and abolishing the system in which the third party institutions recommend labour conditions of public service employees; (2) establishment of a governmental employers’ organization; and (3) enhancement of accountability to the public. The Committee also notes the Progress Schedule for Civil Service Reform. In addition, in the process of establishing the Progress Schedule, the Japanese Government held a number of meetings with JTUC–RENGO and RENGO–PSLC at various levels formally and informally between November 2008 and the end of March 2009.

The Committee takes note of this information and wishes to stress once again that the reform process which will establish the legislative framework of industrial relations in the public sector for many years to come is a particularly appropriate opportunity to hold full, frank and meaningful consultations with all interested parties on all the issues which create difficulties with the application of the Convention and whose legal and practical problems have been raised by workers’ organizations over the years. The Committee trusts that the Government will vigorously pursue these consultations within the framework of the labour–employer relations system examining the committee or other appropriate bodies, in order to find mutually acceptable solutions to all the issues raised and to bring the law and practice into full conformity with the provisions of the Convention and asks it to provide information on the progress made in its next report.