A labor union, Kan-nama’s main focus is on protecting workers’ lives. In addition to negotiating compensation, they pay close attention to a variety of issues, including workplace harassment and working conditions. If there are workers in trouble, they go to the management and begin negotiations.

A mixer driver at a ready-mix concrete company in Kyoto joined Kan-nama. In previous years, the company would issue him a work certificate so he could put his child in nursery school. But as soon as he joined Kan-nama, they stopped issuing him work certificates.

Yasui Masahiro was the one who negotiated with the management to have the employment certificate issued.

However, Yasui was charged with “attempted coercion” and was arrested by the Kyoto Prefectural Police along with other union members who had participated in the negotiations.

What awaited him afterwards was a detention decision by an ignorant judge and harassment in the detention centre by prison guards.

Prosecutor Hideki Tachikawa’s attitude has changed

In 2017, a mixer truck driver applied to Murata Kenzai, a building materials company in Kizugawa City, Kyoto Prefecture, for an employment certificate, but was refused. Until then, he had been issued an employment certificate every year to submit to his child’s nursery school. However, when he became a member of Kan-nama in 2017, he was refused.

My colleagues from Kan-nama and I negotiated with the owner of Murata Kenzai on behalf of the driver. However, the manager refused to issue an employment certificate. The manager said, “The city official said that you can get into nursery school even without an employment certificate.” So we called the Kizugawa City Children’s Department in front of the manager to confirm. We also asked the manager to call the Children’s Department to confirm. Then, during the phone call, the manager suddenly complained of feeling “unwell,” called an ambulance, and became limp.

Pushing the manager to this extent was deemed to be “too much,” and I was arrested in June 2019. In the end, I was charged with “attempted coercion” because they refused to provide an employment certificate.

At the first hearing in the Kyoto District Court, I was sentenced to one year in prison with three years’ probation, but is this really a crime? Obviously she was faking his illness when he became limp.

Then the Osaka High Court ruled that “Murata Kenzai was forced into a corner when it was no longer possible to refuse the creation of the work certificate. It is not surprising that they suspected that the manager was faking her illness.” I was fined 300,000 yen for a different incident with Murata Kenzai, which was also strange, but I was not found guilty of negotiating the work certificate. My colleague who negotiated with me was also found not guilty.

After the Osaka High Court ruling, I went to the Kyoto District Court to observe a different case from Kan-nama. The prosecutor who had interrogated me, Hideki Tachikawa, called out to me. “How are you doing? Actually, I live in the same area as you, Mr. Yasui.”

His tone was obviously different from when he was interrogating me. I guess the high court ruling had an impact. He seemed to get carried away. I think Prosecutor Tachikawa also thought, “This couldn’t become a case,” and felt guilty.

Judge Hiromi Tomonobu: “I will study the Labor Union Law.”

In the end, the house searches, arrests, and detentions were all done to weaken Kan-nama. Proving a crime is not important. It’s harassment.

During a house search, the police came while I was not at home. My wife dealt with it, but the investigators went to each toddlers’ rooms. Even though my wife told them it was not necessary, the investigators went anyway. They even looked inside my wife’s dresser.

During the investigation, the strategy was to divide, with the message being, “The then Chairman Take and Vice Chairman Yukawa are all to blame, you are not to blame.” In order to destroy Kan-nama, it seems that the top must be destroyed.

At Kyoto Detention House, I was called “Hey” or “Number 285.”

I was harassed a lot by the prison guards. During roll call, they would say, “You are supposed to line up with the second line on the tatami mat, you idiot.” When I ordered bread, I filled out a mark sheet, but they would repeatedly say, “You’re filling it out wrong.” Even when I asked them what was wrong, they wouldn’t tell me, and at first I couldn’t eat bread.

During detention, I couldn’t lie down except for bedtime and lunch break. I got scolded if I lay down. I got sciatica. Exercise was just going outside and throwing a ball against the wall. I haven’t been found guilty yet, so the way I was being treated was definitely wrong. “Pretrial detention” does not make sense.

The thing that made the biggest impression on me was the hearing to disclose the reasons for detention. Even if the prosecution demands detention, the judge must allow it; thus, the suspect may request that the cause for permission be made known during the hearing.

When our lawyer was explaining the Labor Union Law to Judge Hiromi Tomonobu, she said, “I don’t really understand,” and then said, “I’ll study it.”

I was extremely angry. The audience was in an uproar, saying, “What are you talking about?”

Only Kan-nama puts their bodies on the line

Even after being arrested and detained, I never thought about quitting Kan-nama. If I quit, it would mean denying everything I’ve done up until now. I would be able to accept it if I had done something wrong, but I can’t accept it. Definitely not. My family is also understanding. If I hadn’t joined the union, I wouldn’t have the stable life I have now.

We are the only ones who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect workers’ rights. That’s why we are being oppressed. Kan-nama is absolutely necessary. If we were gone, the situation would be much worse.

A labor union makes it possible to do things that one person can’t do alone. I hope people will take the first step, such as consulting without worrying, or joining a union and fighting together, without giving up and thinking, “It’s impossible anyway.”

[Postscript from the interviewer] The reason why Kan-nama continues to be a “reliable presence” / Editor-in-Chief Makoto Watanabe

Just before the interview began, Yasui had been giving labor counseling.

Many of the people who seek advice are unaware of their labor rights and find themselves in difficult situations. There are a lot of cases where they work 12 hours and only get paid for 8 hours.

But why is it that workers continue to come to Kan-nama for advice? They are treated as criminals by the police and prosecutors, and are labeled as “anti-social forces” by society. Normally, people would shy away from them.

I think the answer lies in Yasui’s words, “We are the only ones who are willing to put their lives on the line to protect workers’ rights.” Yasui himself literally put his body on the line so that a union member could work and leave his child in nursery school.

While learning about workers’ rights is vital, having the will to fight for those rights is even more crucial. This is the real reason for why they remain a “reliable presence.”

The proportion of non-regular employees has doubled to 40% over the past 30 years. This is the result of the Japan Business Federation making political donations to the Liberal Democratic Party in order to pursue the profits of large corporations.

In Japan, the mainstream type of union is “company-based union” that only full-time employees can join, so the importance of Kan-nama is growing more than ever.

Ruling at Osaka High Court 

The sentencing hearing for Yasui and others will be held at the Osaka High Court on April 17.

The Osaka High Court also handed down a ruling in December 2021. The defendant was found partially not guilty.

The Supreme Court held a hearing in September 2023, but the Supreme Court did not reach a decision and sent the case back to the Osaka High Court for further investigation. This will be the second ruling from the Osaka High Court.

We will report the further details in the next article.

(Originally published in Japanese on April 16, 2025. Translation by Mana Shibata.)

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