The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), Japan's largest labor organization, in its Oct. 4-5 convention decided to pursue a society that will eventually stop relying on nuclear power. This is a departure from its earlier policy of pushing building of new nuclear power plants. Within Rengo, power company unions that support the promotion of nuclear power are a strong force.
Rengo's leadership should be praised for correctly understanding the severity of the disaster at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant and responding to the public's strong call for phasing out nuclear power.
Rengo President Nobuaki Koga told the convention that the Fukushima crisis has made the leadership realize that when an accident happens at a nuclear power plant, it causes enormous damage. Since Rengo is the biggest supporter of the Democratic Party of Japan, it is hoped that its decision will positively affect the DPJ and the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.