Yoshino to Serve 3rd Term as Head of Japan’s Top Labor Union Rengo

Jiji Press

11:46 JST, September 18, 2025

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A committee of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, said Wednesday that it has decided to recommend that its president, Tomoko Yoshino, should serve a third term.

Meanwhile, Hideyuki Shimizu, head of the Rengo secretariat, will step down.. The nomination committee recommended Vice President Masashi Jinbo, leader of the Japanese Electrical Electronic & Information Union, as Shimizu’s successor.

Yoshino’s third two-year term will begin after her nomination is approved at Rengo’s annual general meeting in October.

“We highly evaluate Yoshino’s track records such as laying the groundwork for wage hikes in ‘shunto’ labor-management negotiations and her efforts to promote gender equality,” Toshiyuki Ito, head of the committee, told a press conference.

Yoshino became the first female president of Rengo in 2021.

Of the two deputy presidents of the umbrella body for labor unions in the country, Akihiko Matsuura will retire while Chihiro Ishigami will stay on.

The committee recommended Tomoko Nagashima, leader of the UA Zensen union for workers in the textile, chemical, commerce, food and general services industries, as Rengo deputy president to succeed Matsuura.