Aiming to create environments in which employees can work lively, MC proactively engages in dialogue with MC's Staff Union to formulate and implement measures that reflect the voice of employees.
Overview of MC's Staff Union
Mitsubishi Corporation Staff Union was formed in 1970 and as of October 2011, it has 3,370 members. Based on an agreement with MC, all eligible employees join the union. The union has four full-time members who carry out a variety of activities through a representative committee that comprises members selected from the eleven branches established at each division and branch office.
Labor and management share the common interest of how to improve Mitsubishi Corporation and when implementing numerous measures related to human resource management, MC has adopted the opinions of the staff union.
Function collecting the voice of employees from the work front, delivering to management and supporting the infiltration of HR systems to the work front
MC's staff union frequently holds workplace meetings at each branch to ensure employees are informed about various human resource systems that MC has introduced under labor-management agreements. These meetings are held about 20 to 30 times a month which is about 300 times a year.
Labor-management discussion meetings are held to share issues and discuss ways to improve situations. Such meetings are held at various levels including each business unit, division and business group, and then ultimately with the president once a year. These meetings serve as opportunities for the staff union to express the voice of employees. The key feature of MC's staff union is that it promotes the adoption of HR systems throughout the organization, and it serves the monitoring function of collecting opinions and views of employees via workplace meetings and questionnaires and reporting the voice of employees ultimately as far as the president.
Regular Meetings with the Staff Union
Communication via labor-management discussion meetings is regularly carried out via meetings with top management, including the president, in meetings concerning business results held twice a year and through regular meetings with the Human Resources Management Department. In addition, MC and the staff union hold other meetings to discuss individual themes such as housing accommodations for single employees, the employee cafeteria, the improvement of working environments, time management and diversity, and opinions that are voiced in these meetings are reflected in the measures that MC carries out.
Union members also participate in the Health Committee, which is an obligatory committee under the Industrial Safety and Health Act, and the opinions expressed here are reflected in health and safety initiatives.
Full-time members of MC's Staff Union
In order to develop a rewarding working environment and thus maintain high levels of motivation among MC's employees, the staff union, together with the company, carries out various activities.
The union actively makes recommendations to the company about further enhancements to systems and operations. These include monitoring implementation of human resource systems, and sharing issues regarding corporate initiatives in discussions between labor and management. Support systems and the development and utilization of talents that take into account the needs of employees, whose ways of working are becoming more and more diverse, are also included in such efforts.
We held our second "Company Tour for Children" in August 2011 as part of our activities to create a pleasant work climate from the point of view of maintaining both work and family. By bringing employees' home lives into the workplace, the aim of this activity is to deepen understanding at the workplace regarding maintaining both work and family, to deepen family's understanding regarding work, while providing an opportunity for employees to think about the way they work and raise family at the same time. Thirty four children of employees, in their third to sixth grades of elementary school, participated in the tour. They enjoyed taking part in a large variety of programs, such as visiting workplaces, having lunch in the employees' cafeteria, participating in volunteer activities and so on.
