Enterprise unionism

Institutional characteristics

The normal unit of an enterprise union is either the company or the establishment (a single site of a company). Union members directly register and pay their membership fees within that unit. The enterprise union has been by far the most prominent union structure in post-war Japan: by 1994, it included about 92 per cent of total union membership. It is an independent decision-making body with financial autonomy in relation both to the firm and to union federations at industry and national levels. A major characteristic is that only those workers who are employed on a regular basis by a firm can be members. Anyone who loses her/his job also loses union membership automatically. Part-timers and temporary workers are usually not part of the membership. Small firms are less unionised than large ones. Where firms are unionised, a potentially wide range of employees belongs to the union. Many firms adopt a union shop system whereby regular employees who are not in supervisory or management positions must become union members. Both blue-collar and white-collar workers within a given company or establishment belong to the same union.

Only union members can be elected as union officers. Therefore, a firm's union officers must be employees of a unionised firm, and typically its own employees. Union officers are usually on temporary leave from their own firm and eventually return to posts within the firm. Their salaries are paid from union membership fees.