A Web site helped Hikaru Watanabe organize a union to seek compensation for overtime from a major firm that operates a chain of menswear retail outlets.
Watanabe, 26, became the first president of the union established in February by employees of Yokohama-based Konaka Co. after learning of the Web log run by the Labor Consultation Center, a nonprofit organization in Katsushika Ward, Tokyo.
The center received two anonymous letters in March and July 2006 accusing Konaka of failing to pay its employees for putting in long hours after completing their regular workload. The letter gave specific information about their so-called service overtime.