The Hokkaido Labour Commission on Thursday ordered the operator of Mitsushigaoka Hospital in Sapporo to enter collective bargaining with its union, finding the refusal an unfair labour practice banned under the Trade Union Act.
The medical corporation Hokubukai walked out of a June 2023 bargaining session with the Sapporo Regional Union's Mitsushigaoka Hospital branch, whose members include the hospital's nurses and care staff, without answering questions, according to the order. More than 10 requests to negotiate followed, and the hospital did not respond to any of them.
Hokubukai argued that the union's conduct at the talks amounted to violent slander of the people representing the hospital, and said it could not take part unless the union met demands including reflection and an apology.
The commission rejected each of those grounds, finding no legitimate reason for refusing to bargain. It further ruled that refusing to negotiate weakens a union, which brings the conduct under the act's ban on controlling or interfering in a union's operations.
Branch president Harumi Sasaki, 66, told a press conference she wants Hokubukai to take the order seriously. The union plans to request talks soon.
The hospital declined to be interviewed and gave no answer to questions from reporters. Hokubukai can ask the Central Labour Commission to review the order, or sue in the Sapporo District Court to have it revoked.
Three lawsuits pending
The dispute has produced three lawsuits against Hokubukai at the Sapporo District Court, all still being heard.
- August 2024: the union sued for about 47 million yen in unpaid wages, arguing that the time staff spend changing into uniforms counts as working time.
- October 2024: after Sasaki was dismissed the month following that suit, the union sued for the dismissal to be withdrawn.
- February 2026: the union sued for damages over the refusal to bargain.
The changing-time claim turns on a question Japanese labour rules leave largely to case-by-case judgment: whether time spent putting on a uniform at the employer's instruction is work that must be paid. The union says it is.