The Alliance team at Endicott, NY was recently privileged to receive a visitor, Mr. Chikara Kamiya, from IBM Japan, Tokyo. Mr. Kamiya is an employee of IBM Global Services (IGS) and a member of the IBM Union in Tokyo, Jmiu. He explained to us how the union works in IBM Japan.

The union itself, which has existed for over 40 years, consists of only 170 employees. However, they have the support and financial donations of many thousands of regular IBM employees in Japan. They also have both written and verbal contracts with the IBM company, on behalf of the employees at large. If a rally is held, thousands of IBM Japan employees turn out to support it. They distribute 16,000 newsletters a week to employees.

We heard one example of how the union negotiates with the IBM company on behalf of the employees. One particular employee takes care of her elderly grandmother, who has Alzheimer's Disease, every weekend. IBM asked her to move about 200 miles away from her home. Because this meant she could not care for her grandmother, the union negotiated a unique arrangement on her behalf. She did move to the new location, but Friday afternoons and Monday mornings, when she commuted to and from home, were agreed by IBM to be considered regular work time.

In Japan, it is very important to take care of your elderly relatives. As our guest said, "Nissan Motor Company would never ask an employee to move 200 miles from home!"

It was a very enlightening meeting, and encouraging to see we can communicate about common employee concerns -- such as time for our families -- and about our struggles to represent those concerns for our fellow employees.

Back to NewsUpdate