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UNI Global Union today offered its condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Japanese union leader Kazuo Oikawa, who died on April 11.



He was 79



Mr. Oikawa graduated from Sendai Communication College in 1947. His union carrier started in 1951 as secretary of the Sendai Telegraph Office Branch of Zendentsu(Formerly known as NWJ). He became an Executive Committee Member of the Tohoku Region for the union before rising to Regional Secretary. He then went to Tokyo to work as a member of Central Executive Committee of Zendentsu.



In 1974, Mr. Oikawa became President of Zendentsu in 1974. From 1974 to 1982, he was the chair of the APRO Consultative Committee for PTTI, the communications international union that was a founder of UNI. After serving as President of Zendentsu, he was elected to Parliament in 1986.



One of highlights of Mr. Oikawa’s union carrier was the 24^th PTTI World Congress in Tokyo 1981. As chair of the APRO Consultative Committee and PTTI-JC, he took the central role of organizing the event. He invited all participants to Hakone, near Mt. Fuji, and performed the Awa-dance, which all participants remembered long afterward.



“We will always remember Brother Oikawa’s wry sense of humour, his dedication to workers’ rights and his sharp and well-mannered trade union leadership style,” said UNI Deputy General Secretary Philip Bowyer.