Teeing off with the All Japan Metal & Information Machinery Workers Union

[Mulboyne]

This isn't a major story but one small aspect of it caught my eye. A group of 25 women golf caddies in Tochigi recently won a legal action against their employer, a subsidiary of Tobu Railway. Tobu had unilaterally altered their terms of employment in 2002 by turning them into part-timers and cutting wages by 30%. The whole action took seven years, but the Supreme Court has now rejected the company's appeal and ordered Tobu Sports to reinstate them as full-time employees with appropriate restitution. Although I've said it isn't a major story, the case has been heralded as an important victory and the decision did get a modicum of mass media attention.



When the caddies began their action, one of the first steps they took was to form a union. This union then became affiliated to an existing organization which provided the bulk of the support for their case. You might wonder which union golf caddies should belong to and it tuns out that, in Tochigi at least, they belong to the All Japan Metal & Information Machinery Workers Union (JMIU). The JMIU more usually draws its members from the likes of Nissan, Japan IBM and Nikon and is itself a member of Zenroren. It looks like the JMIU sees itself as a broad church, especially where there is a grievance which is pertinent to many of their other members.

[Behan]

Good on you, ladies!

[kusai Jijii]

Hats off ladies. Good on yas.

[IkemenTommy]