Japan's Sogo & Seibu Union To Strike Over Firm's Sale To U.S. Fund

The Sogo & Seibu labor union announced on July 25 that over 90% of its membership had voted for the right to strike over Sogo & Seibu Co. owner Seven & i Holdings Co.'s plan to sell the major department store chain.

Photo Insert: The Sogo & Seibu Union has about 4,000 members out of some 5,000 employees at 10 Sogo & Seibu stores nationwide, excluding managers.

The union is now able to strike at any time at the discretion of the executive board as it negotiates with company management, Satoshi Tokairin and Ayane Matsuyama reported for Mainichi Shimbun.

A strike would apparently be the first at a Japanese department store since 1957, when workers at Fukuoka-based Iwataya (now Iwataya-Mitsukoshi) walked off the job for more than 50 days.

The Sogo & Seibu Union has about 4,000 members out of some 5,000 employees at 10 Sogo & Seibu stores nationwide, excluding managers.

The union has had repeated collective bargaining sessions with Sogo & Seibu over the planned sale, demanding the company outline what will happen to the chain's employees and plans for its stores.

However, the union has been given no concrete explanation on these issues. It then sought to negotiate with Sogo & Seibu parent Seven & i Holdings, but the latter also provided no information, saying that it "does not employ Sogo & Seibu workers and so cannot respond."

The union then decided to counter with strike action to demand an explanation, and an all-members vote was held from July 9 to 22. Of the 3,833 votes cast, 3,600, or 93.9%, were in favor, and 153, or 3.9%, were opposed.

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