Japan – what can we learn? - Construction Labour Research

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was the most precious asset they should share.The management practice thus formed, strengthened by the nature ofthe Japanese capital market and government's industrial policies, castthe post-war enterprise into a model fairly different from thestockholder-oriented model in which the stockholders play the keyrole. This employment-oriented character of the enterprise has servedas the basis of stable industrial relations at the enterprise level. Thissystem of enterprise-based industrial relations eventually imparted tothe internal management market the ability of flexible response tovarious changes caused by technological innovation, transformation ofindustrial structures, and regional redistribution of management force.As long as employment enjoys stability, and fruits of growth aredistributed in a fair manner, the enterprise-based unionism is able toflexibly adapt to movement of workers within enterprises and changesin the nature of jobs caused by technological innovation (see Figure 1and 2).Now Japanese enterprises are forced to change under the pressure ofthe rapid transformation of economic environment in the wake ofinternationalisation and innovation in information technology. Forsurvival in the sharpening international competition, Japaneseemployers have in the 1990s put into practice in rapid succession aseries of new policies centering on business restructuring for costreduction, managerial innovation, and organisational overhauling.They have also made employment "more flexible" for the sake ofpersonnel cost reduction. In the same vein, many employers nowpropose to revise the wage systems in favour of strengthened capacityand achievement evaluation in order to facilitate the selection of thefittest.In this situation, RENGO declares that for the sake of properpersonnel upbringing and stable employment "flexible employment"should not be used as an excuse for the neglect of long-termemployment stability, that in the evaluation of workers' capacity andachievement fair criteria should be established and that evaluationshould be done in such a way that it is acceptable to the workersthemselves as reasonable. Emphasizing the role of trade unions inprotecting jobs, RENGO proposes that the wage system be revisedfrom the point of view of making the concept of fair wage as seen bymanagement compatible with that of stable living wage. IndustrialCLR News No 2/200657
unions on their part have advocated industrial, employment, and wagepolicies taking their respective industrial situations into account. Thetrade unions are searching for ways that can make invigoration of theirindustries compatible with the protection and improvement ofemployment and working conditions.It is also noted that at the enterprise level the unions make it theirstrategic task to more intensely work on management to persuade thelatter to adopt the unions' alternative plans about business policy,investment, and organisational improvement. In the midst of this tugof-warbetween union and management, some strategic choices havebeen taken as to where the Japanese employment system is going.Trade unions are expected to fully display their organisational,intellectual, and moral capacities in order to bring about compatibilitybetween industrial revitalisation and quantitative preservation cumqualitative improvement of employment.3. Towards a Participatory Industrial Society.3.1 The basic conditions for reforming the unions.Japan’s industrial democracy now stands at a crossroad. Union densityhas continued to decline since the mid 1970s. In 2003, it fell below 20percent. The latest figure for union density is 18.7 percent in 2005,which stands at 10,138,000 in terms of actual membership (Ministryof Health, Labour and Welfare, Rodo Kumiai Kiso Chosa - BasicSurvey on Labour Unions, 2005). Non-union personal management isbecoming more and more common in contemporary business.Democracy in “corporate society” is currently facing a crisis. Toremove this crisis in industrial democracy, Japanese trade unions needto reform themselves to cope with the rapidly changing environment.There are some major issues that must be considered when discussingthe reform of enterprise unions (Suzuki 2000). First, before being ableto increase their influence in managerial decision-making policies,unions must reinforce their strength, policy and action to forcemanagement to recognize their presence as a partner in an effort tocreate a management structure based on discussion and consensus.Second, in the light of the increase of non-regular employees, such aspart-time and dispatched workers, it is necessary for unions to workeven harder to ensure they receive fair treatment in corporate societywhile actively working to unionise them. Third, it is necessary toCLR News No 2/200658
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No 2/2006Japan - what can we learn?
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separate nation states, local build
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"shortening of exploitation's horiz
Page 10 and 11: The Japanese construction industry
Page 12 and 13: time could be up to 50 or more hour
Page 14 and 15: The differences between sites in th
Page 16 and 17: most of its importance since then.
Page 18: But asked, who decides on the wages
Page 21 and 22: policy were Toyota, Nissan, Canon,
Page 23 and 24: Figure 2 C om position of Investm e
Page 25 and 26: 3.2 Investment sheetSecondary, the
Page 27 and 28: Maintenance and repairN ew construc
Page 29 and 30: period of continuous cut back of or
Page 31 and 32: enterprises, such as Nippon Steel C
Page 33 and 34: of architectural design, engineerin
Page 35 and 36: is constructed without blueprints.
Page 37 and 38: task over again bearing the cost of
Page 39 and 40: outsource every production function
Page 41 and 42: so that any significant changeover
Page 43 and 44: sixties or seventies who have retir
Page 45 and 46: Immigration law allows residential
Page 47 and 48: Today, domestic construction demand
Page 49 and 50: 1993. Then there was a decrease to
Page 51 and 52: Hundredmillion 億円yen1400012000
Page 53 and 54: workers belong to enterprise-based
Page 55 and 56: trans-enterprise or industrial nego
Page 57: Union (DENKI RENGO), Confederation
Page 61 and 62: again. Industry specific federation
Page 63 and 64: consult, while involved with variou
Page 65 and 66: that unions can bring many positive
Page 67 and 68: Figure 1. The Image of the J-CorpCo
Page 69 and 70: References:OKAMOTO, Hideaki(1964) "
Page 71 and 72: Nr. 3. Stress in the European const
Page 73 and 74: We proudly present: a new publisher
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