著者

河西 宏祐

出版者

早稲田大学

雑誌

早稲田大学人間科学研究 (ISSN:09160396)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.17, no.1, pp.49-66, 2004-04-01

---

Recently, as a result of economic globalization, the movement towards deregulation in all sectors has advanced quickly even in Japan. In 1996, the government announced a deregulation policy for the private railway industry, and, on 1 February 2002, the deregulation of the passenger-bus industry took effect. According to the policy, the entry of newcomers into the bus industry, the establishment of lines and the setting of fares were to be liberalized. Based on market economics, the government had, even in the railway industry, rushed into the age of free competition. The private railway industry had five to six years-from the announcement of the government's private railway deregulation policy until the policy was to come into effect-in which to prepare for the advent of this age of free competition. In order to achieve a "reduction in labor costs," the management side carried out a program of severe management rationalization. Major management rationalization took place even at "Company A," which had in 1993, before deregulation, already introduced a "transformed system of working hours" as a pretext for reduced working hours. In "Company A", a "reduction in labor costs" was later pursued, and a program of severe management rationalization was carried out. This included stand-alone profitability based on in-house spin-offs, wage reductions, wage-rise suspensions, reductions in retirement allowances, the abolition of fringe benefits, changes in the salary system (from seniority-based to ability-based wages) and so on. This research brings together several focal points in the period before deregulation (1996-2002), and through survey research empirically examines the evidence of how the management side at the company level, along with the labor unions, dealt with deregulation and, as a result, how management-labour relations changed. In addition, This research also examines the possibilities and limitations of the kind of functions displayed by the labor unions at the company level.