A debate regarding the long term viability of the Japanese labor movement has been underway for a least a decade. Initially, attention focused on the changes in the economic, political and social structure of Japanese society û factors that are outside of the control of any participant in the labor relations system. Unlike Western nations such as the United States and Britain, Japan's labor unions have not attracted the substantial increase in employer hostility that characterizes labor û management relationships in the United States and Britain.
According to an essay written by Sadahiko Inoue published on the International Institute for Labor Studies website, The Japanese trade union movement was unified in 1989 when Rengo (the Japanese Trade Union Confederation) was formed as a national center of trade unions representing the overwhelming majority of unionized workers. Rengo has been seeking to promote a flexible trade union movement which still draws on the traditions and historical evolution of Japanese trade unionism until the 1980s. In the course of social and political developments during the 1990s, it can be said that trade unions have become more influential than in the past. Several unions have been tackling the issue of part-time and temporary workers, but they have been generally unsuccessful, notably in their efforts to organize such workers. Regarding the practice of long-term employment, while some people urge Japan to adopt American-type management practices and short-term employment contracts; Rengo defends the rationale for long-term employment and other corporate decisions based on long-term interests.
According to Inoue, labor - management relations in Japan have not changed to any significant extent from the previous two decades. The basic characteristics of enterprise -company-based unions, a seniority-based wage scale, a spring labor offensive involving annual negotiations over compensation increa...