The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), which played the principal role in bringing the Democratic Party of Japan to power in 2009, is at a turning point following the DPJ's crushing defeat in the general election last December.

At its central executive committee meeting on Aug. 23, the 6.8 million-member labor organization addressed the DPJ's subsequent overwhelming defeat in the July Upper House election: "It is no exaggeration to say that the DPJ has completely lost (people's) trust."

At his meeting with DPJ leader Banri Kaieda on July 30, Rengo President Nobuaki Koga said Rengo will continue to collaborate with the DPJ, but advised the DPJ not to waste time indulging in intraparty bickering.