Japan's Postal Unions Prepare for Privatization

Japan Postal Workers’ Union (Zentei) and All Japan Postal Labor Union (Zenyusei) are hammering out the final details of a plan for an equal merger by March, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reports in its Saturday edition. The unions plan to join forces to cope with the growing trend toward management streamlining ahead of next April’s launch of the public postal corporation. Inasmuch as Zentei and Zenyusei are solid supporters of the Democratic Party of Japan and the Liberal Party, respectively, their integration is likely to influence how the two opposition parties struggle together as allies. Assuming the merger goes through, the new union would be the third-largest in Japan. Founded in 1950, Zentei had a membership of 151,000 as of June 30, 2001. Zenyusei was founded in 1965 and had 87,000 members at the end of last June. Japan’s Postal Services Agency plans to cut about 20,000 jobs from the nationwide postal payroll of some 140,000 employees during fiscal 2001-2005. Competition is expected to become increasingly intense as private-sector firms enter the postal business, and, ‘In the future we’ll need even further streamlining measures,’ said an official at the Ministry of Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications. The two unions will make an official announcement in the near future.