Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - Japan (Ratification: 2002)

Article 5 of the Convention. Effective tripartite consultation. The Committee notes the Government’s detailed report including observations made by the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (JTUC–RENGO) in October 2014. The Committee welcomes the detailed summary of the tripartite meetings held between August 2012 and April 2014. The JTUC–RENGO indicates that only a few unratified Conventions have been discussed in the tripartite meetings, including the Termination of Employment Convention, 1982 (No. 158), and the Part-Time Work Convention, 1994 (No. 175), at the April 2013 meeting; and the Holidays with Pay Convention (Revised), 1970 (No. 132), and the Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155), at the April 2014 meeting. It adds that there were no discussions concerning the unratified fundamental Conventions (the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 (No. 105), and the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111)). The JTUC–RENGO is of the view that a structural change in the consultations is needed to ensure that the unratified fundamental Conventions are discussed at every meeting. It also reiterates that tripartite consultations should be improved by publicizing the domestic laws and practices which should be amended and the discussions conducted thus far, as well as by increasing the frequency of the tripartite consultations. The Committee invites the Government and the social partners to continue to report on the measures taken to improve tripartite consultations on international labour standards. It also invites the Government to continue to provide information on the content and outcome of the consultations on the matters listed in Article 5(1) of the Convention, including consultations held to re-examine the abovementioned unratified Conventions (Article 5(1)(c)).

Article 3. Representation of the social partners. In reply to the issues raised by the National Confederation of Trade Unions (ZENROREN), the Government indicates that the workers’ representatives in the Labour Policy Council, the Central Minimum Wages Council and the Social Security Council are appointed by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and the workers’ representatives in the Central Labour Relations Commission are appointed by the Prime Minister based on the recommendations made by trade unions. The Committee notes the Government’s indication that the representatives of workers on the ILO Panel, established in accordance with the Convention, are freely chosen by the most representative workers’ organizations. The Committee invites the Government to continue to provide information on the measures taken to select the most representative organizations of employers and workers in the tripartite bodies and consultations on international labour standards.