Local Public Enterprise Labor Relations Law

This law stipulates the labor relations of local government employees working for local public enterprises (businesses such as local railways, tracks, automobile transportation, electricity, gas, water, and industrial water) and specified local independent administrative corporations operated by local governments. The official name is the "Law Concerning Labor Relations of Local Public Enterprises, etc." (Law No. 289 of 1952). Abbreviated as Local Public Enterprise Labor Law. The purpose is to establish peaceful labor relations between local government-operated enterprises and the employees working there, in order to ensure the normal operation of local public enterprises to the maximum extent possible and contribute to the promotion of the welfare of residents.

After the Second World War, local public enterprise employees were fully subject to the three labor laws (Trade Union Law, Labor Relations Adjustment Law, and Labor Standards Law) and were guaranteed the same rights as private sector workers, but in 1948 (Showa 23), Cabinet Order No. 201 stripped them of the right to strike and the right to collective bargaining, just like general local government employees. However, in 1952, with the same purpose as the application of the Public Enterprises, etc. Labor Relations Law (abbreviated as Public Enterprises, etc. Labor Relations Law; currently the Law Concerning Labor Relations of Administrative Execution Corporations, abbreviated as Administrative Labor Law) to the labor relations of active national government employees, this law was enacted, separating local public enterprise workers from general local government employees and granting them the right to collective bargaining. Therefore, in content, this law is similar to the Administrative Labor Law. Specifically, the law stipulates that the open shop system be adopted with the closed shop system and union shop system not be permitted (Article 5), that the right to collective bargaining be recognized with the right to conclude collective agreements, but that administrative matters are excluded from the scope of the right (Article 7), and that any agreements that involve expenditures that are not budgetary or financially feasible must be approved by the Diet (Article 10). Industrial action is totally prohibited (Article 11), and violators will be dismissed (Article 12). On the other hand, there will be no special institution like the former Public Enterprise Labor Relations Commission, etc., in which the mediation of labor disputes and the determination and redress of unfair labor practices are carried out by the Prefectural Labor Relations Commission, as in the general case. Like the Administrative Labor Law, this law clearly conflicts with the guarantee of the right to organize and the right to collective action in Article 28 of the Constitution of Japan, in that it completely and uniformly prohibits workers' right to strike.

[Hiroshi Terada]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

地方公共団体が経営する地方公営企業（地方鉄道、軌道、自動車運送、電気、ガス、水道、工業用水道などの事業）および特定地方独立行政法人に勤務する地方公務員の労働関係について定めた法律。正式名称は「地方公営企業等の労働関係に関する法律」（昭和27年法律第289号）。略称、地公労法。地方公営企業の正常な運営を最大限に確保し、住民の福祉の増進に資するため、地方公共団体の経営する企業とこれに従事する職員との間の平和的な労働関係の確立を図ることを目的とする。

　第二次世界大戦後、地方公営企業職員は、労働三法（労働組合法、労働関係調整法、労働基準法）が全面的に適用され、民間労働者と同様の権利が保障されていたが、1948年（昭和23）政令二〇一号により一般地方公務員と同様、争議権と団体交渉権を剥奪(はくだつ)された。しかし1952年に、現業の国家公務員の労働関係に公共企業体等労働関係法（略称、公労法。現、行政執行法人の労働関係に関する法律。略称は行労法）を適用したのと同じ趣旨で、本法が制定され、地方公営企業労働者を一般地方公務員から分離し、団体交渉権は認めた。したがって、内容においても本法は行労法と類似している。すなわち、団結権についてはオープン・ショップ制をとり、クローズド・ショップ制、ユニオン・ショップ制を認めず（5条）、団交権は、協約締結権を認められるが管理運営事項はその対象から除外され（7条）、予算上、資金上不可能な支出を内容とする協定は議会の承認が要件とされる（10条）。争議行為は全面的に禁止され（11条）、違反者は解雇される（12条）。一方、労働争議の調整および不当労働行為の判定・救済は、かつての公共企業体等労働委員会のような特別の機関を設けず、一般の場合と同様、都道府県労働委員会が行う。本法は行労法と同様、労働者の争議権を一律全面的に禁止している点で、日本国憲法第28条の団結権・団体行動権保障に明らかに抵触する。

［寺田　博］

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