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11.9 Opening Address
TANAKA Yasuhiro
President of DORO-CHIBA(National
Railways Motive Power Union of Chiba)
I thank you all for joining in today's rally from all over Japan. I am
also most grateful to the colleagues of the KCTU from South Korea and the
colleagues from the US headed by the ILWU for coming a long way to this
meeting. As an opening address, let me greet you on behalf of the
sponsoring three unions.
I should like to make a proposition in the
beginning of the rally in the name of the sponsors.
The KCTU faces now
an extremely severe situation under repression on labor movement and
discrimination of irregular workers by the Roh Moo-Hyun administration
even surpassing the late military dictatorship in its brutality. In
protest against this, five workers committed suicide this year. On October
31 in the emergency delegates meeting of the KCTU, a resolution has been
passed to wage a general strike on November 12. Today in Seoul a National
Rally of 100,000 workers is being held.
My proposition is: to hold
this rally as solidarity meeting with the simultaneously held National
Workers Rally in Seoul and with the planned general strike. To confirm
this I should like to propose to adopt a resolution in the name of all the
participants of this rally as follows:
We demand the Roh Moo-Hyun
administration to immediately stop all repressive measures on labor
movement!
Stop claim for damages and seizure of property/wage of
unionists as counter-measures to strike!
Release all the detained
workers for labor dispute and withdraw unlawful dismissal!
Stop policy
of discriminating irregular workers!
I ask you to approve this
proposition with hearty applause of all the present here.
Workers in
the US headed by the ILWU are also fighting against invocation of the
Taft-Hartley Act and repression in Oakland. They are diametrically opposed
to labor-management collaborationism of the AFL-CIO officials and are
fighting back war, repression and privatization to tremble the Bush
administration.
This is the sixth meeting organized under the slogan of
"Let us make a national network of fighting labor unions". We have not
imagined, however, until several months ago that such a wonderful rally of
international solidarity might be held. What has made us unite is above
all the actual situation around us. "September 11, 2001" and "March 20,
2003" (start of the Iraq war of aggression) have changed the whole world.
Naked imperialist policy headed by the US is prevailing and severe attack
is violently storming workers. Confronting with this situation, we have
been fighting in firm and absolute conviction that only united power of
workers can prevent war and that only united struggle of workers can
change the present world. Now our aspiration has become one.
Joint
struggle of Japanese, US and Korean workers basically constitutes an
actual power to stop preparation for aggressive war on North Korea
(Democratic People's Republic of Korea) by the Bush and Koizumi
administrations.
Workers of the world are now going to regain the power
to create a new age in unity. Labor unions, once driven to the edge of a
cliff, have begun a fresh struggle, reviving the fighting power everywhere
in the world. This is an evident manifestation of a dynamic beginning of a
new history of workers' struggle that nothing can prevent.
The Koizumi
administration has stepped into a path of a fresh war through the
legislation of three Emergency Laws and is intending to dispatch the
Self-Defense Forces to Iraq. Bush as well as Koizumi is flaming up
chauvinism against the North Korea in preparation for the next war.
The
corporate leaders are pushing on with dismantling of labor legislation and
social security system and enforcing a large-scale privatization according
their policy to "put 9 out of 10 workers into unstable employment",
propagating fisticuff law or struggle for existence. Thus a large number
of workers have been thrown into stormy restructuring, bankruptcy and
wage-cut, while militant labor movement is exposed to severe attacks.
The official labor movement with the RENGO (Japanese Trade Union
Confederation) at the head has surrendered to this capitalist offensive
and has shifted to the other side of the demarcation line between labor
and management. It supports the Emergency Legislation and agrees to the
retrogressive revision of the labor laws, wage-cut and worsening of
working conditions; it has almost completed its degradation into an
"Association of Industrial Patriots". ZENROREN (National Trade Union
Council) makes no exception.
In regard to the struggle of fired 1047
workers of National Railways, the union officials handed over to the
police several of them, who insisted on continuing the struggle.
Surprisingly enough the very union leader who worked as general secretary
of the NRU headquarters on the union convention in September and enforced
these disciplinary measures, ran away from NRU in October.
Against this
background, a massive revolt of workers has been launched overcoming the
traditional division between the national centers, such as RENGO and
ZENROREN. A new trend of labor movement is emerging overcoming the
hindrance by the RENGO officials, as was illustrated in the recent
struggle against the Emergency legislation which was organized by the
land, sea, air and port 20 unions and organizations with the participation
of tens of thousands workers. Among others our struggle has sent
impressive message to the whole world and fighting friends have begun
gathering around us.
Today I should like to appeal above all to rise
up together for a fundamental change of the miserable present situation of
labor movement. The time is ripe; the voice of anger is full.
As a
result of the dissolution of SOHYO (General Council of Trade Unions of
Japan) and forming of RENGO in 1989, Japanese labor movement has been
brought to the brink of disbanding. We are now here to declare a creation
of Japanese labor movement anew from the beginning with our own hands.
Workers are the masters of the society. Workers create the history. If
each of us, participant of today's rally, organizes 10 comrades, our
fighting power will soon be several tens of thousands. Let's gather the
voice of anger at workplaces and communities and unite them nationwide and
round the world.
Today is the day of the General Election in Japan.
There is no political party in Japan to fight with workers for their
interests, although all sacrifices are shifted on the shoulder of working
class and the whole world is threatened by new wars. Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP) is stepping straightforward into the way for war and revision
of the Constitution. Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) as well admits the
Emergency legislation and revision of the Constitution and is competing
with LDP in promoting restructuring, deregulation and privatization. Even
Japan Communist Party (JCP) is now becoming a part of national partnership
through revising its party program. Workers are all angry at this
political situation. Today's rally represents their voice of indignation.
For all this our rally is making a new start.
Let's repel the
aggression of masse unemployment through the unity of all the workers. Let
us overthrow the reactionary Koizumi administration of war and revision of
the Constitution. Let us develop joint struggle and international
solidarity of Japanese, US and Korean workers. Let us organize nation-wide
network of fighting labor movement. Stop the dispatch of the SDF to Iraq.
This is my opening address. Thank you. |
