Nihon Jichitai Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengō (Jichirōren)

Nihon Jichitai Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengō (Jichirōren)

Nihon Jichitai Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengō (日本自治体労働組合総連合, abbreviated Jichirōren) was formed in 1989 as a federation for unions of local government workers; this group is affiliated with a national center, Zenrōren (全労連), which has worked closely with the Japanese Communist Party (日本共産党, JCP).

This organization has been opposed to constitutional revision in association with Zenrōren and various anti-constitutional revision groups, such as the Article 9 Association (九条の会). In 2007, Jichirōren proposed to develop a nation-wide campaign for protection of the constitution, “Kenpō Caravan”, jointly with Zenrōren; according to their website, the campaign car traveled throughout Japan and visited 1,184, approximately two thirds of local governmental institutes as of spring 2019. Jichrōren has also been against neo-liberal structural reform for local governance under the LDP government. Their website introduces related news and proposes a detailed and complex charter for reform of prefectural governments and local autonomous bodies.

Another federation for unions of local government workers, Zenkoku Jichi Dantai Rōdō Kumiai Rengō (全国自治団体労働組合連合), which is affiliated with a different national center, Rengō, is also shortly called “Jichirōren” (自治労連). To distinguish the two from each other, “Zenrōren Jichirōren” (for Nihon Jichitai Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengō) and “Rengō Jichirōren” (for Zenkoku Jichi Dantai Rōdō Kumiai Rengō) are used. However, “Zenrōren” is generally applied for the larger organization, Nihon Jichitai Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengō.

Tokyo Jichitai Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengō [Jichirōren Tokyo] 

Associated with Nihon Jichitai Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengō (日本自治体労働組合総連合) and Zenrōren (全労連), Tokyo Jichitai Rōdō Kumiai Sōrengō (東京自治体労働組合総連合) has opposed constitutional revision proposed by the Liberal Democratic Party, upholding the concepts of pacifism, labor rights, and local autonomy, which are determined in the current constitution (2009 campaign policy). In 2015, protesting the security bills, this association established an anti-constitutional corruption department (東京自治労連憲法改悪阻止闘争本部) in May and adopted a resolution to call for cancellation of the bills in August.