Akira Yamagishi, the first president of Japan's largest labor organization known as Rengo has died, union officials announced Friday. He was 86.
The Osaka native who died last Sunday headed the former state-owned telecom company's labor union, the predecessor of the ALL NTT Workers Union of Japan, from 1982.
Yamagishi then became the first leader of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation when it was formed in 1989 through the merger of private and public sector unions. He resigned the post in 1994 due to a health problem.
Yamagishi is known to have played a role in the creation of the coalition government of Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa in 1993, which succeeded in toppling the Liberal Democratic Party from power for the first time since 1955.
The labor leader's funeral has already taken place and a memorial service will be held later by members of Rengo, according to the officials.