The harassments I received：Asec Corporation

Greetings everyone, today I will be writing about my experience of sexual harassment and the fight against it as a union activist in Japan. First, let me introduce myself a little. I am a single mother who was a full time worker at a small company in Kanagawa, I am currently unable to work and am on leave due to sexual and power harassment targeted towards me from my boss while I was working full time there. 

Asec Corporation 

The company I work for, Asec, is a small company with about 30 employees in Japan. We develop, manufacture, and sell adhesives that bond parts inside your cell phones and computers. Few years ago, the company became a subsidiary of a Taiwanese company, and is now distributing adhesives worldwide from production bases in Taiwan and China. The department I was in consisted only of myself and my supervisor, the general manager. Every department was understaffed, and the department heads co-supervised different departments at the same time, my supervisor as well was in that situation.

The harassments I received

There have been many times when I have had long meetings alone with my supervisor, but I have been able to work while reconciling my feelings. Believing that he was trying to guide me to become more experienced in the field. However, little by little, the boundaries became blurry. When my work was going well, I was patted on the head, this happened more and more frequently, and he ended up hugging me several times in the company. For a long time, I continued to put up with it because it was obvious that I would lose my job if I filed a complaint with the company.
As expected, when I filed a complaint of the sexual and power harassment I received to the company, the interview to investigate what happened to me only lasted for 20 minutes. I was unable to say anything I wanted to say. After such a sloppy investigation, a meeting was set together with my supervisor, the perpetrator, and I was told that I would be transferred to a different department. The company said that sexual harassment had occurred, but did not investigate the details of the harassment and only handed down a minor disciplinary action against my supervisor. I was transferred but my supervisor kept his same position as the head of his department. The reason was that, as mentioned earlier, the company was understaffed and as he was the head of several departments he could not be transferred to another department.
I couldn't accept how they handled the situation and requested discussions with executives several times afterwards. Still, "I think sexual harassment and power harassment can vary greatly depending on the position of the victim" "I think I have learned many things about human relationships, like when I need to run away.” was what the vice president and executive officer said during those discussions. 
In addition to sexual harassment and power harassment by my supervisor, these kind of comments and attitudes from the vise president had cause me to develop a adjustment disorder and I have been on leave since June 2022 due to it. Still, even when I was on leave, my supervisor repeatedly made comments that negated my personality, such as "She is an idiot, calling me a power harasser," "She's just a corpse doing nothing, why is she even here" and “She has a personality disorder, thats why" and kept on blasting me in an attempt to win over other employees. When the company acknowledged some of the sexual harassment, I received an intimidating apology from my supervisor, but I can't help but think that it was just act. Furthermore, when I pointed out these comments and asked the company to investigate, the company hid the fact by saying "there is no such fact," despite the fact that the supervisor had admitted to it in the past.

Joining the trade union and picketing the company for the first time!

Until I joined the union, I had been seeking help at outside organizations such as the Labor Bureau and the police but nothing was done. I felt that I tried everything that I could have done but I could do nothing as an individual. That’s when I found Sogo-support union, a trade union based in Tokyo. At the beginning, I was unsure if I could really confront and fight against the company but after consulting with the union numerous times I decided to do so.

We then joined the General Support Union and on August 7, 2023, we filed a collective bargaining offer.

Our main demands were; 

• Demand for a proper investigation of the sexual harassment and power harassment done by the supervisor, as well as the ongoing second-hand harassment, and dismissal of the supervisor. 

• Demand for an investigation and disciplinary action against the vice president and executives for second-hand harassment. 

• Publicize internally and publicly the fact that harassment happened and that I was transferred.

• Propose and implement measures to prevent recurrence of sexual harassment and power harassment so that it will never happen again. 

• To guarantee that I will be placed on administrative leave until the problem is resolved and an environment is created for me to return to work. 

• Guarantee of the difference in salary when it is settled as a work-related accident 

When we went to propose at the company to have a collective bargaining a variety of union members came together.  Such as a student who has been fighting against a company where his family member passed away due to overwork there; a former correspondence school teacher who has fought for a working environment that allows her to work with students in a less robotic manner; a woman who has protested against company discrimination of menopause; a woman who has been involved in union activities for over five years; a student working on foreign labor issues; and volunteer high school students.
We asked the company to call the vice president to hand over our letter of demand, but he never complied, and after an hour and a half while we were waiting downstairs, the police arrived. The company had called the police. However, the police were helpless to do anything because of their ''civil non-intervention'' and we just waited downstairs with them. After another hour passed, the company finally promised us in front of the police that they would call the vice president and ask us to wait a bit.
The company's response had been terrible, but when I thought that the harasser, the vice president himself, would be coming to me in a few minutes, I instantly found it hard to breathe and couldn't stand still. With the help of everyone around me, we waited for another two hours, believing the company's statement that they were adjusting their hours. After waiting that long, I was appalled when the company sent us a letter through their lawyer, saying that the vice president would not be coming and that we should call the lawyer. The letter read, "We can't respond to you because we don't have an appointment, instead the Human Resources and General Affairs Department will take your letter." Not only did the company not respond to the letter, but they even went against their word made prior and pretended that it had never happened. I can't help but think that the company was just ''adjusting the time'' to buy time for the lawyer to submit the letter and had no intention of responding from the beginning.

Everyone was angry at this treatment after being kept waiting for four hours, and we made a rapid decision to picket in front of the company that same day. The administration department prior to that told us that we could wait until 5:30 p.m so we sat down at the company entrance, made flyers, decided on some logistics and were ready for picketing in about an hour. It was a horribly hot day, 33 degrees and the sun was bright. Some of us went to buy megaphones and others went to buy lunch too, it was a team effort. I was amazed and overwhelmed by how everyone was thinking and moving by thinking what they as individuals could do as a team.

I had not expected to be out on the streets and I was not prepared for it, but as I saw everyone else leading the way and raising their voices, I began to feel that I wanted to speak up too. During picketing, we continued to call on the vice president to come and pick up our letter, but he never came to us until the end. Yet, when the picketing was over, I felt free that I was able to raise my voice.

I had always had the rigid idea that ''workers are supposed to obey'' but it was a great experience for me to see firsthand that this is not the case and that it is our right to speak up. Being with everyone and fighting together made me realize that and it was a big realization for me.

The company's terrible response to the letter.

After the deadline for responding to our letter has passed we did not hear from the company. And when I checked with the lawyer, he said that he had not received the written request.... On the day I made the request, I called the company and waited for a response that someone would come to pick it up, but no one came. I had no choice but to place the letter where everyone could see it, take a picture of it, and send a text message to the person in charge for it. Despite this, the company's response to my call was an unfair labor practice. Later, through the lawyer, I received a excuse about how they handled the situation, they said that "we refrained from responding in personal contacts.”  

Towards the first negotiation.

If I had been alone when I went to the company and pressed the intercom, I would have run home. Even during the request at the company I had difficulty standing there. But I was able to fight and not give up because I was not alone and I had comrades who were fighting with me. Being with them was very reassuring.
I realized that this is what it means to share one person's problem and fight together with everyone, and that it is not just an individual problem, but a universal problem that has been repeated in society for a long time, and therefore I can voice my dissatisfaction with the company and society, and fight for it. It is truly a new world for me. I am just at the starting line, and I do not know how the company will respond to me, but I will continue to fight without giving up until the end. The first round of negotiation is scheduled for September 11. I appreciate all of your support and cooperation. 

To those of you who are having a hard time at work, or are close to someone who is

Thank you for reading this far. It took me more than a year to find this union and to decide to fight against the company. During the past year, I went through some mentally difficult times. It is not easy for an individual to speak out against a company. This experience made me realize the strength of unions and the potential of relationships without the power relations. Fighting with others who have the same will, it may be painful, but it is not the only thing, it is also fun.
However, if you have been subjected to a painful or unreasonable experience, you may feel afraid to do anything. So if that’s the case, I suggest to ask for help from people around you. In the union, such as General Support Union, there are lots of different people, so I think you will find someone with you can empathize with. There is no authoritarian relationship here. If you are worried about something, I think coming along for help here might be a way.  I recommend it.