PM Kishida to Attend Rengo’s Convention in Oct.

Jiji Press

16:24 JST, September 28, 2023

TOKYO (Jiji Press)— Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is considering attending the Japanese Trade Union Confederation’s biennial convention to be held in Tokyo for two days from Oct. 5, sources said on Wednesday.

He will be the first prime minister from the Liberal Democratic Party in 16 years to attend the convention of the national trade union center, better known as Rengo, since Yasuo Fukuda took part in the event in 2007.

At the upcoming Rengo convention, Kishida, president of the ruling party, is expected to demonstrate his efforts to help realize sustainable wage growth, which is likely to be included in the government’s planned new economic package.

This April, he became the first sitting prime minister in nine years to attend the May Day rally organized by Rengo.

Earlier this month, Kishida appointed Wakako Yata, a former member of the House of Councillors, as special adviser to the prime minister. Yata has also served as an official of the Japanese Electrical, Electronic and Information Union, a member labor union of Rengo, and as vice head of the opposition Democratic Party for the People.

Ahead of the next election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Kishida is apparently attempting to create a division between the DPFP and the leading opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan by approaching Rengo, which supports the two parties.