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‘Ganbare Nippon’ meaning ‘stay strong Japan’ was the message by the UNI Apro Commerce delegates to those affected by the tsunami of March 11, 2011 and the rebuilding exercises by the trade union movement, society and authorises in the effected areas. In an attempt to learn from the immediate responses from our Japanese colleagues, UNI Apro Commerce delegates took a harder look on the issue of Crisis Management.



UNI Apro Commerce delegates met with the JSD affiliates in the morning of 2 July 2012 to have a dialog on the response and follow-up actions taken up by the JSD affiliated unions namely Fujisaki Labor Union, Emarche Sakurano Labor Union, Isetan Mitsukoshi Group Labor Union, Seiyu Labor Union and Loft Labor Union.

Shoichi Hachino, JSD President thanked UNI and the affiliates for the support, international solidarity and donations received. The funds has been transferred to RENGO (Japan Trade Union Center) and UNI affiliates with a part of the donation used to purchase three disable friendly vehicles for Miyako City Social Welfare Council and social interaction education equipment for children. The people in Japan now are making best efforts to restore and reconstruct on those effected areas.

The trade union of Japan is very proud of its 35,000 volunteers that had worked hard immediately after the earthquake and tsunami to clear and clean up the areas affected. JSD sent 110 volunteers to Iwate and Miyagi with the slogan ‘Sweat & Smile’. At that time the basic necessities were not adequate and these volunteers had left the community to rebuild their lives without competing and inconveniencing them by making do in basic venues to live.

We should be extremely proud of the 35,000 volunteers from trade unions coordinated by RENGO because this represents THE SECOND LARGEST GROUP OF VOLUNTEERS after the Self Defense Forces of Japan. That is the ‘Ganbaro’ spirit!!! meaning ‘let's stay strong’ or ‘let's fight together’ to overcome this challenge.

It was equally important that the unions should share their experience and these were some of the issues that the unions has paid particular attention to:-

Examine the role and responsibility of the commerce industry. Commerce industry has a great role to play as provider of essential and daily goods/needs of the community and it was the first industry that had to open up to response to people need for food immediately after the earthquake. It is also the meeting place for the society. This experience put the retail/commerce sector in an ‘enlarged’ responsibility and role in crisis management. The employees started opening their stores by bringing essential goods in front of the stores and gradually open the other levels after the cleaning up and safety of the building secured within days in response to the people’s needs for such items. Restoration of the stores and setting up of ‘satellite’ shops also helps to get daily necessity to that in need.

Coordinate what trade unions should be doing at the national, prefecture and local level. A disaster relief task force was setup to share information, respond to requests and coordinate relief and response to the ‘disaster’ guidelines. Assist the local trade unions in all their efforts including moral support with the message “Never give up!”

Address the issue of labor relations during time of crisis. How unions and management can work together to provide assistance to the employees, customers and society as well as certain benefits to be accorded to the effected employees to tide them over this difficult period. There is a need to put into place a more detailed labor-management ‘preparatory emergency plan’ as well as securing employment.

Improve the guidelines on crisis management. While the policies and guidelines were well rehearsed and practiced, the earthquake and tsunami followed by the power interruptions and scale of destruction has raised the need to set the bench marking higher. Presently the earthquake emergency manual is being revised and a safety confirmation guideline with an auto trigger confirmation will be sent if an earthquake of more than 5 magnitudes is registered. There is also a need to decentralized management of emergency supplies as well as installing emergency supplies in the union office. Ensure that the store can function as a temporary center. Establish new crisis emergency training as the original manual did not function in a total loss of power and the need for better coordination with the entire shopping area around the store to respond more effectively in future.

Emergency economic assistance to the affected affiliates was contributed to the affected affiliates; local members and contribution were also made to the RENGO Disaster fund. Many delivered relief goods to workers affected by the disaster.

The trade unions also made proposal to RENGO, Friend-of-JSD parliamentarians, local government and employer organization to seek urgent and flexible response to the people affected.

Social Contribution Programme “Love Fund’ to support the 2,055 children orphaned by the disaster. JSD donated 2.5 million yen to build the Tohoku Rainbow House and 2.5 million yen to Ishinomaki Rainbow House.

Volunteer activity of JSD will continue to bring smiles to the children via various activities and offer assistance to clear the snow of the elderly people in the affected areas in winter. Small tokens volunteerism that warm the hearts of many.

The fatalities could have been higher if not for the disaster preparations drills regularly done in each store and the familiarities of the staff on the Earthquake guidelines were followed.

Although phones and electricity were out, coordination within the stores was calm and smooth. Safety of the customers and employees are the upper most importance. However with no radio signal and power for three days they used the ‘emergency telephone tree’ system to check the safety of its employees and family. When power in the phone batteries was dead, they used solar power and batteries. However there is a need for a better more reliable system to be put in place and adopted as standard procedures.

One strong lesson learned was the over emphasis of electric powered gadgets. Phones, electronic toilets and lifts etc didn’t work. Radio and mobile phone lines weren’t working but internet was an alternative method to reach the employees.

As there were no electricity, traffic lights not working and elderly people needed help. Stranded people needed shelter, food and warmth. All these were taken care of by the union members/employees in the stores including acting instinctively as traffic cops, relieve providers, ensuring that clean rest rooms were available to use and that blankets were distributed.

Other shortcomings were noted down including for the need to have less dependence on gadgets and equipment that relies on electricity power including the toilet facilities, more stock of blankets, mineral water, food and to keep stocks of gym pants for women in case they need to stay overnight in the store, boots and walking shoes for those who had to walk home.

After the crisis, within days the unions provided reports on the extent of damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake with information including personnel injury, physical damage, methodology and days for confirming employees safety, evacuation guidance conditions for customers, disaster manual review, issues after the earthquake, measures taken to address these issues and evaluation.

All the delegates spoke of their admiration for the trade unions and the Japanese people on how they had responded to the crisis. No other country can be so well prepared and after seeing the footage on television, knew how East Japan was badly affected but today after one year, the rebuilding is underway and people emerge stronger.

Bro Christopher Ng mentioned that this crisis had jelled the Japanese together and in the Manila Regional Conference last year, UNI Apro had passed a resolution so see Japan recover and resume active role in the community. The crisis management manual is applicable to each country and he will seek UNI LCJapan to translate that to English to be shared with the world as a tribute to those who died.

Please refer to Related files.

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