Victory in Your Struggle!
Solidarity message from DC to RMT

TANAKA Yasuhiro (Y. Tanaka), The President of Doro-Chiba

Dear Brothers and Sisters of RMT,

We, the National Railway Motive Power Union of Chiba (Doro-Chiba), strongly impeach Metronet Co. for a collapse of safety operation as a result of privatization and a firing of 6 members of RMT by making up a story of beer cans, and firmly support your strike action on March 12.

We also have experienced a struggle against this kind of frame-up on 1968, when a member of our union was fired by making up a story of beer bottles and we won withdrawal of firing in course of all-out struggle. This is one of struggles founding the present Doro-Chiba.

We will go on 48-hours strike from the same day of March 12, demanding and aiming to stop rationalization and build up safety operation, to stop the troop dispatch to Iraq and bring the troops home immediately, and to smash 7 Emergency Related Laws together with the warmonger administration of Koizumi.

Let’s fight together and advance to Global Day of Action of March 20!

March 11, 2004

In Solidarity

TANAKA Yasuhiro (Y. Tanaka)
The President of Doro-Chiba (the National Railway Motive Power Union of Chiba)
doro-chiba@doro-chiba.org
http://www.doro-chiba.org

OUR UNION IS STRIKING FOR SAFE DRIVING CONDITION

Leaflet (pdf) of DORO-CHIBA for neighbouring people, March 2004
http://www.doro-chiba.org/pdf/04syun_bira01.pdf

A SERIES OF ACCIDENTS IN WORKPLACES

For the past several years, we have had series of massive accidents:

• 29 April 2004; Explosion of oil tanks at Nagoya Exxon Mobile
• 3 September 2004; Explosion at Shin-Nittetsu Steel Co. ironworks, in Nagoya
• 8 September 2004; Fire at Bridgestone Co. factory in Tochigi
• 26 September 2004; Fire at Idemitsu-Kosan Co., the 6th accident in just 3 years and a half!

These have been triggered by “restructuring” due to privatization, subcontracting, deregulation, et al.

The “destruction of safe practices” is now a big social problem.

THE REALITY OF JAPAN’S RAILWAY, ANOTHER SERIES OF ACCIDENTS

Behind beautifully decorated stations and nice looking new model trains, Japan Railway (JR) safety record has been destroyed in the wake of privatisation.

• 28 September 2003; Mass shutdown of CHUO Line because of maintenance failure
• 1 October 2003; Trouble with rail points at the very same place
• 3 October 2003; Another stoppage caused by maintenance failure, again, at same point
• 6 October 2003; Transport stoppage at KEHIN-TOHOKU Line
• 6 January 2004; Rail track found broken between Tsudanuma-Makuhari on SOBU Line
• 13 January 2004; Tracks found broken in Narashino Train Area
• 29 February 2004; Maintenance failure at ATS construction on SOBU Rapid Line
• 5 March 2004; Stoppage caused by deformed rail track on SOBU Rapid Line

These are just the tip of the iceberg. We have had minor accidents almost everyday. This is the reality of JR. And most accidents have been connected to the maintenance work.

Two years ago the JR Co. slashed 4, 000 maintenance workers jobs. They subcontracted most of the maintenance work in order to “reduce costs”. They even issued instructions which demanded subcontractors “should not give safety instructions ..... If they do, the JR Company could be regarded as being responsible for the maintenance.”

And astonishingly, this instruction was issued just after the fatal accident in 1999 that killed 5 workers who worked for subcontracting companies. This should not be the attitude of any railway company who has responsibility for the lives of millions of people. This shows an disregard for responsibility and a complete lack of understanding about safety.

Maintenance of the track and trains is the most important part for safe driving. It requires highly skilled techniques and experience. The privatized JR Company, however, is loosing the techniques and skills which have been built up over the years and have ensured safety prior to the privatisation of the state run JNR period.

JR Co. = MURDERING COMPANY!?

The death toll of workers killed at work is appallingly - 228 in the past 16 years since the launch of JR Co. in 1987. Most of them working for subcontractors. This is the reality of working on privatised railways under the JR company.

JR East Co. (one of the six JR Co.) had 71, 800 workers at its start point, but now has just 48, 000. This could continue to trigger more fatal accidents in the near future.

DORO-CHIBA union is striking for safety conditions from 12 March to 14 March!

DORO-CHIBA (DC) : National Railway Motive Power Union of CHIBA
Email: doro-chiba@doro-chiba.org
Web: http://www.doro-chiba.org

English page at:

http://www.doro-chiba.org/english/english.htm

Read automatic English translation at:

click here

Read automatic Korean translation at:

click here

[Labour-J-info] generated by Hiroshi Kanba
japan2world@hotmail.com
http://stopwar.fc2web.com

* Translation of DC leaflet has been reshaped thanks to Graham’s advice