Rengo names Sasamori new leader

The Japan Times, 28 September 2001

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) on Thursday elected its general secretary Kiyoshi Sasamori as its new president, replacing the retiring Etsuya Washio, Rengo officials said.

Sasamori was elected unopposed because no one else filed candidacies by noon Thursday, the deadline for applying for the leadership race. Rengo is Japan's largest labor organization, with 7.61 million members.

Sasamori, 60, will become the fourth president of Rengo, a major base of support for the main opposition party—the Democratic Party of Japan.

Sasamori became Rengo's secretary general in 1997 after serving as head of the workers union at Tokyo Electric Power Co. and later of the Federation of Electric Power-Related Industry Workers' Unions of Japan.

He will assume the Rengo presidency at a regular convention in early October.