Skills Development and Labor Union in Japan 1
3. Labor Unions’ Participation in Vocational Training
1)At the State level
In Japan, vocational training of labor unions at the State level was scarcely done until recently.
Director of the Department of Organizational Affairs of Rengo (the Japanese Confederation of Labor), the largest labor organization in Japan, commented as follows: “Labor unions lag greatly in their endeavors for education and training. Unquestionably, learning the job is the greatest concern for labor union members. Labor unions take part in government councils, but they speak about only general problems, not any concrete problems. There are almost no labor unions that are conducting education and training of their members.”18
The book titled From Power and Policy to Power and Action, which summarizes the progress of Rengo in the 10 years since its founding, makes almost no mention of vocational training. From this, it can be inferred that Rengo, the largest organization labor unions in Japan, has scarcely taken part in vocational training.
The indifference to vocational training is seen not only at the national level but also at the industry level and the corporate level. Why such indifference? Let’s quote the words by the director of Rengo’s Welfare Policy Division. “Japanese labor unions have not systematically taken part in vocational training,” he says. “This is one of the big differences between Japanese labor unions and European trade unions. There are several reasons for that. One is that training within companies was conducted in linkage with production management and personnel administration, centering on on-job training (OJT). Another reason is that there are no ex-employees among the members of company-based labor unions. The introduction of a new technology into a production process is often taken up for discussion between labor and management. But labor unions as organizations have rarely taken part in the retraining and re-education of workers accompanying that. Regional labor unions, which mainly consist of employees of small and medium-sized enterprises where there are many inter-company movements of workers, may have had an opportunity to access regional vocational training sessions. To be specific, however, this is beyond our knowledge”
(Rengosoken 1996:63-64)19
18. Based on a hearing of the director of Rengo’s Department of Organizational Affairs on June 4, 1999.
19. The director of Rengo’s Welfare Policy Division made the announcement.
Thus, it is clear that the reasons Japanese labor unions’ relative indifference to vocational training are as follows: First, Japanese companies give in-house training centering on on-job training as part of production management and personnel administration. Second, Japanese labor unions consist of employees on the active list only and do not include retirees and there has been no inducement for labor unions to give vocational training to jobless people.
Summing up, it may be said that Japanese labor unions scarcely took part in vocational training until recently. It is exaggeration to say, however, that they did not take part in vocational training at all. In the recent several years, they have been increasingly involved in vocational training. From the State level viewpoint, their participation is as follows:
(1) Policies and systems, demands and proposals
Rengo (the Japanese Confederation of Labor)20, the largest national center, compiles a document titled “Policies and systems, demands and proposals” every year and urges the government ministries concerned to have Rengo’s assertions reflected in their policies. “Policies and systems, demands and proposals” that are related to vocational training in fiscal 2001-2003 are as follows21:
a) Serving as a go-between in rehiring and vocational training should be stepped up for workers forced to quit companies, particularly those in their middle age and over. District labor bureaus and local governments should cooperate and create a system that combines vocational training, job placement and hiring and operate the system to help jobless people find jobs;
b) They should strengthen the support for vocational training for workers, particularly elderly workers, who are forced to change their employers and/or jobs as a result of a change in the line of business by the companies where they work.
c) Public vocational training should be upgraded on the basis of such concepts as the Polytech Center (vocational ability development promotion center) and the Ability Garden (lifetime vocational ability development promotion center) so that each prefecture can effectively undertake vocational training that really helps employed workers, jobless workers and people who have to change their jobs find jobs and contributes to the elevation of their vocational skills and technologies.
20. As of June 30, 2001, Rengo, the largest national center in Japan, had about 7 million union members. This was 62.4% of Japan’s unionized workers. (This was revealed in “The provisional figures for a basic survey of labor unions in 2001,” a 2002 report by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare.
21. “Policies and systems, demands and proposals for fiscal 2001-2003” by Rengo 2001, 44-45 pages
d) Regarding the system of granting bounties for the education and training, such conditions as the period of being insured under the employment insurance scheme should be relaxed and that the system should be made thoroughly known among both employers and employees. For both new school graduates who have not yet found jobs and have not yet joined the employment insurance scheme and job seekers who are on layoff, a system that enables such people to receive the same bounties for education and training as those for employed insurance policyholders should be established by introducing funds from the general account budget.
e) For the purpose of helping individual workers build their careers, a system of evaluating jobs and vocational skills from the social viewpoint should be established, and a system should be structured under which labor and management jointly establish the criteria for evaluation and develop and give education and training courses. Regarding the vocational skill examination system and the licensing system for each job category, standards that lead to the elevation of skills and technologies should be established and be reexamined from time to time and the feasibility of establishing international standards should be studied.
f) With the start of the nursing care insurance scheme, it is an urgent task to train helpers. The Government should take steps to train nurses with top priority, and extend a powerful guidance and assistance for the application and management of the revised Nursing Workers Law, hiring of nurses, and the betterment of their working conditions.
g) The Government should expand and upgrade measures for vocational training and ability development relating to the basic technologies for the production of goods.
h) On the basis of the seventh vocational ability development basic plan, the Government should extend increased assistance to jobless people, students, workers on layoff, etc., as well as labor and management.
i) To help new graduates and young jobless people find jobs, the Government should strengthen steps to support the selection of jobs and the building of careers. It should expand and promote the internship, etc.
j) The Government should make close cooperation with schools to stimulate students’ vocational awareness. It should introduce vocational training to elementary schools, junior high schools and senior high schools.
Rengo has submitted “The policies and systems, demands and proposals” said before, which contains the above proposals, to the government ministries concerned, explained them and is urging them to take the proposed. Needless to say, Rengo has no intention to resort to such action as a general strike even if the proposals are not reflected in the Government’s policies. It is up to
the Government whether and in what degree “The policies and systems, demands and proposals”
will be reflected in the Government’s.
(2)Councils and subcommittees
Labor unions take part also in government councils and their subcommittees.22 The Japanese Government ministries set up councils and subcommittees when they want to make important policies and take steps for legislation and make the results of the debate by them reflected in bills they sponsor. It is the human resources development subcommittee of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Labor Policy Council that discusses policies relating to vocational training.
This subcommittee holds deliberations on the vocational ability development basic plan and other important items about the development of vocational ability in response to requests by the minister of health, labor and welfare. It also makes proposals that it considers necessary to related administrative agencies.
The committee consists of scholars, representatives of labor unions and representatives of the business community. The representatives of labor unions can take part in policy formulations by speaking in behalf of employed workers. But their participation is limited to commenting on policy proposals by the Human Resources Development Bureau, which is in charge of the Labor Policy Council, and they rarely change the proposals. You may think that the participation by labor unions is only a matter of formality, but this is not true.
We want to show a recent example of labor unions’ positive participation in the formulation of the vocational ability development basic plan.
a) Participation in the formulation of plans
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare compiles the human resources development basic plan every five years. The plan serves not only as the basis for enactments and revisions of laws and regulations about vocational abilities but also as the basis for the yearly budget compilation, job execution, etc. The plan is formulated by taking into account the deliberations at the human resources development subcommittee at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Human Resources Development Bureau. The subcommittee consists of 18 people: six members representing public utilities, the same number of members representing labor unions and the same
22. Regarding labor bodies’ participation in councils, etc., see Naoto Ohmi 1994.
number representing employers. The Human Resources Development Bureau compiles a basic draft plan, submits it to the subcommittee to have it discussed and compiles a final plan. In this process, the bureau receives various pieces of advice and counsel from the representatives of labor unions.
Here we will examine the participation by labor unions in the formulation of the seventh human resources development basic plan, formulated in May 2001. Rengo on February 22, 2001, submitted a document titled “the basic viewpoint”23 to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Human Resources Development Bureau, the secretariat for the formulation of the plan.
In this document, Rengo said: “Even though the present job performing ability development endeavors under the initiative of companies have their limit, its basic objective is to complete the system for ability development support by companies and the socially acceptable vocational ability evaluation system and to make both systems lead to the completion of a career-building system. A safeguard is necessary to see that the weight in ability development is not completely shifted to the voluntary endeavors by workers and companies do not shift their responsibility for job performing ability development to their employees.
“For lifetime employment stability, multilateral support for vocational ability development should be provided to workers in order that vocational training and ability development may be integrated in workers’ designs for their life not only after retiring but also when they are on the active list.
Required is the realization of a long-time stable employment, such as a matching system that prevents a sharp deterioration of working conditions for workers who are forced to quit companies and enables them to find a job quickly. (The Government) is required to realize long-time stable employment systems, such as a matching system that prevents a serious deterioration of working conditions for workers forced to quit companies and enables them to be rehired quickly.
“As a prerequisite condition for that, the establishment of an ability development system that traverses all companies and a social job evaluation system are needed.” This is the point made by Rengo.
On the basis of the “basic viewpoint” submitted by Rengo, the Ministry of Health, Labour and
23. “The basic viewpoint in the formulation of ‘the seventh human resources development basic plan,’” a document furnished by Rengo on February 22, 2001.
Welfare drafted the seventh human resources development basic plan, and showed its gist to Rengo. Rengo on February 28 of the same year compiled an opinion in writing about that, and submitted it to the ministry. In this opinion, Rengo commented on the target for the implementation of human resources development measures, which appears in Part 3 of the draft, and discussed not only the chapter’s names but also the concrete details of the text. Rengo believes that much of the comment has been reflected in “the basic plan” in its final form.
In order to make the seventh human resources development basic plan (draft) into a final form, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on April 12, 2001, held a meeting of the human resources development subcommittee of the Labor Policy Council. On that occasion, the labor representatives at the subcommittee submitted labor’s opinion in writing about the plan. The opinion covered diverse affairs. Here we will introduce the two of them. One is about labor unions’ role in human resources development. It said: “In order that enterprisers may develop vocational abilities from a long-range viewpoint and encourage workers to develop and upgrade their vocational abilities voluntarily, not only the State’s support for enterprisers but also voluntary endeavors by the associations of enterprisers and labor unions are important. It is important that measures for vocational ability development measures are carried out through a proper mix of these endeavors.24” Thus, the basic plan clarified, for the first time, labor unions’ role in the development of workers’ vocational abilities by saying that it is important for labor unions to make voluntary endeavors to encourage self-initiated endeavors by workers to develop and upgrade their vocational abilities. But the substance of labor unions’ participation was not shown in concrete terms. We will be watching to see what the substance will be.
The other is about “fundamentally upgrading the measures to help jobless workers and workers who change jobs.” In view of the harsh job picture, the labor representatives demanded that measures to help such workers be highlighted and the basic plan spell out that fundamental measures to strengthen such measures should be bolstered. The subcommittee accepted the labor demands and decided to add, in the basic plan in the final form, a chapter titled “the expansion and upgrading of vocational ability development to stimulate the rehiring of jobless workers and workers who change jobs” and a chapter titled “vocational ability development to accelerate the rehiring of jobless workers and workers who change jobs.”
24. “The human resources development basic plan” by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare 2001, Page 9
Thus, labor unions play active roles in the compilation process of the human resources development basic plan, such as endeavoring to reflect labor’s demands in it and in other various ways.
b) Participation in the designing of a system
The training and education benefits system is an example of active participation by labor unions in the materialization of a new system under the Government’s human resources development policy.
This system was launched in December 1998. Here we want to review its history with a focus on labor’s participation in its inauguration and progress.
At a meeting of the employment insurance group of the Central Employment Stabilization Council in November 1996, the representatives of labor unions submitted a document titled “What to think of the ‘core problem’ in studies of the employment insurance scheme,” which said: “It is highly probable that the harsh job picture will continue under the structural change in industry. In order to stabilize the job picture under such circumstances, it is necessary, isn’t it, to study as part of the employment insurance scheme the advisability of expanding and strengthening systems to support workers, including the support for self-initiated endeavors for ability development by workers themselves?” As the substance of the support, the labor representatives said that the Government should consider a financial assistance to help employed workers pay the cost of vocational training of certain types. In a nutshell, they asserted that the Government should extend public support for ability development by employed workers. This assertion was approved at a meeting of the employment insurance subcommittee on May 22, 1997.
Rengo demanded the introduction of ability development bounties for individuals in its “demands and proposals about policies and systems in 1997-87,” considering that the bounties would lead to the introduction of a training and education benefits system.
Thus, the training and education benefits system was introduced because the labor representatives strongly demanded in the “demands and proposals about policies and systems.”
(3)Exchange of opinions
The Human Resources Development Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare kept communications and exchanged opinions with Rengo’s Labor Policy Coordination Division about the basic plans relating to vocational training, the designing and management of the system and the
accomplishments by the system. It does not follow that such exchanges of views are immediately reflected in the ministry’s policies, but many of Rengo’s opinions are reflected in the council’s policies and the ministry’s budget. Such an exchange of opinions is frequently held on important occasions, such as a meeting of a council related to vocational abilities and the introduction of an important new system.
As already said, labor unions take part in the formulation of policies about vocational training at the State level through diverse channels, such as demands and proposals about policies and systems, meetings of councils and their subcommittees, and exchanges of opinions. There are also other channels by which labor unions take part in formulation of policies about vocational training, such a meeting between Rengo’s chairman and the prime minister. Rengo also proposes a meeting between politicians and labor leaders. It holds consultations with various political parties to discuss policies. Vocational training, however, does not seem to have ever been placed on the agenda for such meetings and consultations.
Rengo’s participation in vocational training at the State level has become stronger than in the past. In the background to that, there have been changes in the personnel administration and labor management policies of companies. The changes include the hiring of personnel who can be strength immediately upon joining companies, the diversification of the modes of hiring, and a decline in vocational training within companies. There can be no improvement in the abilities of individual workers if companies mainly hire vocationally trained people as non-regular employees and make no investment in education and training. This policy may hamper a rise in the abilities of the entire workforce and the improvement of their working conditions. Fearing that, Rengo is making increased participation in the formulation of policies relating to vocational training in order to make companies correct the curbs on investment in human resources and promoting the State’s role in the vocational education and training.
It must be mentioned that Rengo’s policies are reflected in the Government’s policies because there is basically no big difference between Rengo’s policy and the Government’s policy about vocational training. Reversely, it can be said that labor unions’ roles are limited because there is no big policy difference. When the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare’s department in charge of vocational training compiles a policy, they make the demands and opinions of labor unions reflected in the policy, fully understanding labor demands, and as a result, the labor side probably does not feel the need to make any big change in that. Labor unions are urging the Ministry of