More than 5,000 nonregular workers at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ were allowed to join its labor union in March. That step marks the first time nonregular workers at a major Japanese bank were allowed to unionize.
The result, one hopes, will allow them to provide a better life for themselves and their families, and gain recognition of just how much nonregular workers are actually contributing to companies and the economy in general.
The workers who decided to join the union were about half of the total 11,500 nonregular workers at the bank. They account for about one-fourth of the bank's total workforce of around 48,000 people. The percentage is below that found by the government's 2013 survey of nonregular workers. That survey showed that nonregular workers made up a record-high 38.2 percent of the workforce, over 20 million workers.