The union for employees of a Tokyo shopping center on Thursday launched the first strike in this sector in Japan in six decades, against a takeover by a US company.
Some 900 workers from Seibu Ikebukuro, northeast of Tokyo, were absent from work today, forcing the mall to close to the public, union officials said.
The strike was decided in protest of the sale of the operator of the Sogo Seibu shopping center, from Seven i Holdings, to the US fund Fortress Investment Group and because workers fear that a decline in sales could threaten employment, despite Seibu Ikebukuro . currently being one of the most profitable shopping centers in the Seibu chain.
The Seven i Holdings group should complete the sale during the day, completed in November, but whose execution was postponed due to previous protests by the workers.
The last strike carried out in Japan by the workers of a large shopping center took place in 1962, according to data from the sectoral organization UA Zensen.
Strikes are becoming less frequent in the Asian country: only 50 have occurred since 2009, according to the Japanese Ministry of Labor.
Source: TSF
