Over 30% of future labor union leaders would prefer not to become labor union officials

The Labor Research Council comprising members of the labor unions affiliated with the Japanese Trade Unions Federation (Rengo) conducted an awareness survey of next-generation opinion leaders. The survey targeted young members of the executive committees of nineteen industrial and independent unions affiliated with Rengo, including the Japanese Electrical, Electronic and Information Unions ("Denki Rengo") and the Japanese Federation of Textile, Garment, Chemical, Commercial, Food and Allied Industries workers' Unions. The subjects were mostly in their 30s, with a maximum age of 44, and were expected to play leading roles in union activities in five to ten years' time. Answers were sent in from 2,189 individuals, 10% of whom were women. Some of the noteworthy and/or important questions and answers are summarized below.

Q: What made you become a labor union official? (Multiple answers accepted)
"I will have access to a broader range of information and can expand my perspectives" (58.0%); "There was no reason not to accept the job" (49.1%), and "I wanted to represent the views of the workplace I come from"(21.1%).

Q: Are you satisfied with union activities? Do you feel a sense of fulfillment?
45.0% of the subjects responded, "Yes, I feel a sense of fulfillment" (including "I feel a slight sense of fulfillment"), while 21.5% of the subjects responded, "No, I do not feel any sense of fulfillment" (including "I do not feel any particular sense of fulfillment.")

Q: Do you intend to continue serving as union official?
"Yes, I want to continue" (32.9%); "No preference" (35.1%); "No, I would prefer not to" (31.3%).

Q: What problems do you face at the workplace as union official? (Multiple answers accepted)
"I can't find people who want to become officials" (80.3%); "Awareness of making improvements through labor unions is weak or nonexistent among young people" (76.6%); "Opinions differ between union officials and members" (75.6%); and "Attendance at workplace meetings, rallies, and other gatherings is low" (74.9%).

Q: What is the theme of your union's future activities and programs?
"Boost the system for supporting workers who hope to work and raise a family at the same time" (83.7%); "Use information technologies to make activity information more interactive" (71.0%); "Create a labor union the Japanese people will rely on and support" (67.5%); and "Reexamine the time of starting work and reduce overtime work so as to increase and boost workers' free time on weekdays" (61.5%).

As can be seen, the survey showed that over 30% of all young union leaders who are potential union officials, or, in other words, one out of every three such individuals, did not want to become officials. This, and the fact that 52.8% of the respondents answered "Their own job" when asked what interested them the most, with only 7.4% and 4.8%, respectively, citing "Labor union activities" and "Social contribution activities" clearly show how labor unions currently suffer from a marked decline in their ability to draw members and to exert influence in society.
Meanwhile, when asked to cite the theme of activities they felt they should carry out in the future, 45.1% of the respondents mentioned "Organizing non-organized workers and promoting their membership of labor unions," which was 10.7% fewer than in the previous survey conducted in 1996. In view of the recent increase in the number of non-regular employees, this number may come as a surprise to some people. This may be one reason why organizations that join Rengo are said to be mostly large corporations, with a majority of members being regular, full-time employees.