No 00005

date:Apr./24/2003

What's the suppression of struggle to a special session of convention of NRWU on May.27.2002 (From an appeal of organization to support the accused)

Five members of the National Railways Workers Union (including two members belonging to the Fighting Corps of unlawfully dismissed workers) and three activists of sympathizing groups were arrested in the morning of October 7th by the Security Department of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
Eventually October 7th is the first day of the election campaign for the delegates for the National Convention of the National Railways Workers Union scheduled for October 24th and 25th. Among the arrested are candidates for the delegates of the said Convention. On 28th of October six person of the arrested have been accused; and the following day, 29th two other union members were arrested. The accusation for these workers are violation of the Law concerning Punishment of Violent Activities. They are charged with distributing fliers to, and discussing with, the participants of the Extraordinary Convention of the said union on May 27th, already five months ago for these activities were alleged to be intended "to prevent the union convention"" by means of demonstrating and exercising mass violence". These workers were named quite arbitrarily as "members of Chukaku-ha (a militant political organization) ".
These activities of distribution of fliers and discussion with other union members were in fact protest action against the union central: their protest is directed against the acceptance of the union central of so-called "Four Party Agreement (reached at by three governmental parties and Social Democratic Party)" which demands the National Railways Workers Union, violating trade union autonomy, to admit that the JR (Japan Railway Company) is not to be prosecuted for unfair labor acts [on occasion of the Division and Privatization of the National Railways Company in 1987 ] . Their protest is also directed against the intention of the union central, to exclude from the union convention the union members who brought the lawsuit against discharge of railway workers upon discrimination because of union membership by the JR, demanding cancellation of the unlawful discharge and payment of reparation for damage suffered by the workers. These are apparently matters of the trade union movement and should be settled as issues of trade union autonomy in accordance with the right of association guaranteed by the Constitution and the Trade Union Law.
The state power has, however, with help of certain trade union officials, forcibly intervened into the affair of the trade union under false pretext to protect the union convention from alleged disruptive interference of an outsider a militant political organization. In the court for declaring reason of custody of the arrested the judge confessed that he did not realize the arrested persons are union members of the National Railways Workers Union. As is evident from the above-mentioned facts, it is unprecedented violent state power suppression on trade union. The state power intends by all means crush and divide the struggle of 1047 railway union workers who have been fighting for more than dozen of years against unfair labor activities of the JR companies with the pride of working class and with the support of their families. It is, moreover, an open interference into trade union activities by hindering election of delegates and suppressing free discussion and decision making of trade union.
The law which the state power applied to the accusation of the union members is the Law concerning Punishment of Violent Activities of 1926 enacted simultaneously with the Public Order Security Law to practise ideological discrimination and to suppress workers' and peasants' movements in the pre-war era. The application of this law to labor movement in the present case indicates intention of the ruling class to treat labor movement as harmful to the public security and to put into action beforehand provisions concerning the suppression of civil liberty of the Emergency Act (War Time Bill) now discussed in the Diet. When we let pass this procedure of the state power, we will face a grave situation, in which every activity to oppose the governmental policy be regarded as target of suppression.
The decision of the Tokyo High Court on October 24th on employment discrimination of JR companies concerning the ZEN-DORO (Labor Union of Transport and Construction) on the occasion of the Division and Privatization of the National Railways (the Tekken-Kohdan Suit) says: "In an extraordinary situation of reconstructing National Railway discrimination on employment is permissible".
We protest categorically the suppression on the National Railway Workers Union members belonging to the Fighting Corps for their activities on the May 27th Union Convention.