Yasuhiro Teraoka News Today

The union sought to allow workers to blow off steam while limiting the strike’s impact on the company as much as possible.

TOKYO: The shutters were down on one of Japan’s best-known department stores this week in the sector’s first strike for six decades, sparked by fears that its mooted new US owner will slash jobs.

Labor union members at Japanese department store operator Sogo & Seibu Co. went on strike at its flagship Tokyo store Thursday in a rare work stoppage amid job security concerns stemming from the parent company's plan to sell the chain to a U.S. fund.

Tokyo, Aug 31 (EFE).- The union of employees of a well-known shopping center in Tokyo began a strike Thursday against the acquisition of the company that owns it by an American firm, the first protest of its kind in the sector in six decades. Some 900 workers at the Seibu Ikebukuro shopping center did not …

The shutters were down on one of Japans best-known department stores on Thursday in the sectors first strike for six decades, sparked by fears that its mooted new US owner will slash jobs.

Seven & i Holdings Co. announced Aug. 31 that it will sell Sogo-Seibu Co. to a U.S. investment fund on Sept. 1 just as the subsidiary’s flagship department store in Tokyo was being shut down by a rare strike by protesting employees. 

Workers represented by a labor union at Japanese department store operator Sogo & Seibu Co. will go on a rare strike at its flagship store in Tokyo, as its parent company remains committed to selling the chain to a U.S.-based investment fund despite their opposition to the buyout, according to the union

Employees at the Seibu Ikebukuro main store in Tokyo are threatening to stage a walkout on Aug. 31, which would be the first strike at a major department store in Japan in more than 60 years. 

The 4,000 Japanese workers join a growing international strike movement in a country where the unions have long suppressed the class struggle.

Seeking to protect thousands of jobs, a labor union of Sogo & Seibu department store is preparing to go on strike over plans to sell the company to a U.S. investment manager.