ging together the power of individual trade unions, the national center tries to improve working conditions for all workers. The stated goals of trade unions in Japan are to defend the livelihoods of workers, and to build democracy in the workplace. Japanese unions are not trade industry or occupation unions. Instead, each individual union is comprised of the members of a single company that has voted in favor of union representation. Rengo also believes that long-term, stable employment of full time workers can help assure that Japan has a labor model that that combines contemporary technological innovations with human skills associated with a highly motivated and highly educated workforce. Rengo contrasts this model of efficiency to the behavior of a few Japanese corporations that exploit low-wage workers employed on short-term contracts. These companies readily terminate employees and transfer their business operations from one place to another seeking the least expensive location. Rengo describes this as the "low-road approach" which it believes
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