Hot on the heels of their romp to victory in the race for control of the House of Councilors, the Liberal Democratic Party is chomping at the bit to overhaul the Constitution, which has not been amended since it was signed into law in 1946. The ruling party proposes gutting Article 9, which forever bans war, and laying the legal groundwork for an official national military.
Today I won't address this folly; rather, I'd like to discuss the tension between employees' danketsuken (right to solidarity) and employers' right to free speech under the as-yet-untweaked Constitution.
Article 21 guarantees without condition all freedom of "assembly, association, speech and publication." All these freedoms apply to employers as well as employees.