The Japanese Electrical Electronic & Information Union, an industrywide organization of labor unions at electrical appliance manufacturers, proposed Tuesday forming a program to help members find new jobs.
At its annual meeting, the 652,000-member umbrella union recommended that a center be created by April to help workers deal with accelerating restructuring in the industry.
The proposed program calls for having counselors provide union members with advice after examining their professional skills, qualifications and aspirations.
Union members would be given information on job offerings pooled at another arm of the umbrella union, called the "academy for the electrical appliance industry profession."
The academy was set up in October to run a network of professional training facilities leased from 14 home electrical and electronics makers, including Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
It also envisions mediating between firms and union members to facilitate finding new places of employment.
The umbrella union plans to set up a pool of funds for loans to union members to help them obtain professional training that may help them get rehired.