History of Japanese Labor Unions 14

In the case of an open shop, if the union does not actively try to organize unorganized workers, some workers will not join the union.
This is said to be the reason why the unionization rate of "日教組" (the Japan Teachers' Union.the largest teachers' union) has declined today.
In an open shop, the unionization rate falls when the company is powerful.
However, in a closed shop, if the quality of the union is poor, the opposite happens, with workers being monitored by both the company and the union.
And when a worker is excluded from the union, he or she is no longer an employee. A closed shop has the nature of the union becoming a power structure.
Look at the movie "母さんの樹 (Mother's Tree)." *1
The protagonist's mother is fired by the company. At the same time, she is expelled from the union.
In a closed shop, if the union is vicious and right-wing, it becomes advantageous for the company. The company and the union collude to create a "労使協調路線 (labor-management cooperation line)."
In that case, the worker is bound by both the company and the union.

Therefore, we believe that the basic form of a labor union is an open shop.
You join a company of your own volition, and then you join a union of your own volition. We believe that joining a union with this awareness is the correct way to do things.

However, the current situation in Japan is that a true labor movement like this is not developing.

"母さんの樹 (Mother's Tree)” (1986/Director: Yuten Tachibana) credit: Tsubasa production

*1　This is an independent film produced with the cooperation of the labor union to which Harada belongs.
The president of Tsubasa Production was also a former labor union member, just like Harada.
The president of Tsubasa Production is a firm believer that "films should be seen in theaters," and has not released most of the films he has made on DVD.
After years of persuasion from movie fans, only two of his films have been released on DVD, but they have been released by very conscientious companies.
Some may think, "If films are not released on DVD or broadcast via satellite, people in areas without movie theaters will not be able to watch them."
However, there used to be communities in Japan that traveled around the country with projectors and film.
They were also labor union members, just like Harada.
It was capitalism and neoliberalism that weakened independent distribution communities like theirs and local consumer cooperatives. Harada has seen small communities one after another become unable to survive due to the violence of the government and large corporations.
However, according to information from Harada's friend, the labor union-like independent screening group still exists under the same name.
Harada's former comrades must be quite old now. This is just a guess, but their children may have taken over the business.

It was discovered after his death that Tachibana, the director of "Mother's Tree," was a member of the Japanese Communist Party. In Japan, the Japanese Communist Party has been attacked, tortured, and massacred by the government and police since wartime, so even after the war, many Communist Party members do not publicize their membership. In many cases, their membership is only made public after death.

A famous Japanese film director who is still alive today is also a member of the Japanese Communist Party. All of Harada's labor union comrades know about this, but since the director does not currently publicize his membership as a Communist Party member, everyone who knows about it respects this and does not talk about it.
It will probably be made public in the Japanese Communist Party newspaper after his death.
If one were to publicly announce that one was a Communist member, one's work would decrease significantly and one would face all kinds of discrimination from those around him.
In fact, when Harada was a member of the Japanese Communist Party, he was harassed by local residents.

Veterans from before the war, such as Yamamoto Satsuo and Imai Tadashi, publicly announced from the beginning that they were members of the Japanese Communist Party.
Yamamoto Satsuo continued to make films despite attacks from right-wingers and the Liberal Democratic Party. On one occasion, right-wingers mailed razors to Director Yamamoto's home. Right-wingers shouted from loudspeaker vehicles in the city, "We will punish Yamamoto!"
When he traveled to America, customs at the airport stamped his passport with the words "famous communist."

*Japanese film databases run by Japanese government agencies, companies, and private organizations are full of mistakes. In fact, the data on "midori" is also wrong.This database is relatively accurate: http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/