Workers call on Nissan head office to stop massive restructuring

Japan Press Service, 18 November 1999

TOKYO NOV 18 JPS—In a major anti-corporate restructuring campaign, workers from throughout Japan on November 17 laid siege to Nissan Motor Co. head office in Tokyo.

This was a part of the concerted labor action for jobs, called by the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren).

At Nissan Murayama Factory, the Nissan Branch of All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers' Union (JMIU) called a 24-hour strike in protest against Nissan's Revival Plan that includes five plant closings and reduction of its workforce by 21,000.

About 2,000 workers took part in protest rallies and demonstrations throughout the businesses district of Marunouchi.

At Hibiya Amphitheater where 2000 workers met for a rally, Zenroren President Yoji Kobayashi stressed that only by safeguarding the people's living conditions, jobs and smaller businesses, Japan's economic recovery will be achieved.

A Nissan worker at its Murayama factory in Tokyo said that most workers live with their families, repaying monthly housing loan, and if they lose their jobs or have to move to another factories, what will happen to their families and houses? he worried.

Another worker of Nissan Kyoto Shatai, a car body manufacturer affiliated to Nissan Motor Co., in Uji City in Kyoto Prefecture said that the city's economy heavily depends on the car-related industry, so the plant closing will have adverse effect in the city economy.

The JMIU Nissan Branch the same day visited the Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers group to request that the JCP urge the government to take measures to protect workers' lives, jobs and local economy.