However, regardless of the outcome, the People must use their right to vote to say “NO” to the current government.

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When the upper-house election is over and the structure and course of future politics becomes clear, we here at Osaka Zenrokyo will be preparing for our regular General Meeting.

The 27th General Meeting means that our 30th anniversary is coming soon. We are deeply proud to have survived in such a tumultuous era. In fact, not only have we survived, we have grown, too – both in the number of unions in our federation, and in the total number of union members we have.

However, the baby-boomers who took the lead during our founding have long since been facing retirement age. This could be called a “transitional period”– a time in which we prepare to pass the baton to the next generation.

Nevertheless, there is no use in getting lost-in-thought over this right away. What will happen will happen, so we must carefully prepare and keep steady in carrying out whatever action we can to make our achievements safe for the future.

In any event, along with having high hopes for each union to be tenacious in their own activities, we hope they may have a little extra energy to spare for helping with the Zenrokyo movement.

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By the way, the meeting will be run in a somewhat unusual way this time:

Recently we have been spending just over two hours on the proceedings of the meeting, and adding about an hour for a commemorative events. This time (as we mentioned in the previous issue), the schedule conflicted with the EWA Seminar (EWA’s annual summer event).

As a result, we have ended up combining the commemorative event with the EWA Seminar. Therefore, we will proceed with the business of the meeting itself on a shortened schedule of an hour-and-a-half; from 1:00 P.M. to 2:30 P.M.

The second part – the commemorative event and EWA Seminar – will be starting at 3 P.M., and will be on the theme of “Thoughts On Young People’s Work And Employment Styles”.

Filmmaker Tsuchiya Tokachi’s directorial début, “A Normal Life, Please”, will be screened.

In addition, there will also be a panel session with Mr. Tsuchiya himself and members of the Kansai Student Workers’ Union.

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We don’t mean repeat the previous point about the “generational change”, but there can be no hope of passing the baton without first addressing the high rate of irregular employment among young people or the problems of “black companies” and “black baito”.

Indeed, making an attack on that front is the main point of this event.

Furthermore, the event will be followed by the usual social gathering at an izakaya around 7 P.M.

***

Scheduled for shortly after the Osaka Zenrokyo meeting, the Osaka Union Network will also be holding its own Regular General Meeting on August 3rd at Gakudokan-Kannama.

For many, it will be their first time there, so please enjoy the chance to see the new building.

As befits a network organization, the business of this meeting will be finished in about 40 minutes, and followed by a special talk lasting just over an hour.

The talk will be “Experiences in Union-Building in Tokai and Possibilities for Nationwide Struggle” (working title), given by Mr. Honma Takamichi, chair of Gifu Ippan.

Gifu Ippan is the largest amalgamated union in the Tokai area. It is affiliated to Jichiro Zenkoku Ippan, but has recently also been forging links with Zenkoku Ippan Zenkoku-kyo.

We are certainly looking forward to it!

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