At least 10 prefectural chapters of Jichiro, the nationwide union of local government employees, have stopped paying membership dues to protest allegations of shady financial dealings at the head office.
The membership dues from the 10 chapters amount to 55 million yen a month, and a survey by Kyodo News shows eight other Jichiro chapters may follow suit.
Jichiro, or the All Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union, represents 1 million local government employees, making it the largest labor union in the nation.
The union has been hit by a series of allegations, including charges that it has hundreds of million of yen in undeclared funds and borrowed 3.89 billion yen from financial institutions without formal approval from the board.
On Nov. 9, Tokyo prosecutors indicted three former officials of UBC Corp., a Jichiro affiliate that handles data-processing services for the union, and three of their business associates on charges of embezzling about 42 million yen from the company.
Most of Jichiro's prefectural chapters said they want the central office to launch a thorough housecleaning and mete out disciplinary actions against those involved in the deals. Others say they want new leadership installed.
The 10 prefectural chapters that have withheld membership dues are Aomori, Akita, Iwate, Fukushima, Gunma, Niigata, Nagano, Toyama, Saga and Oita.
The chapters in Yamagata, Kanagawa, Gifu, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Kagoshima say they are considering joining the action.
Some chapters -- including Tokyo and Tochigi -- argue that payment of membership dues should not be used as a weapon to force the leadership to change its ways.
The leadership at the Yamanashi chapter voiced concern that a boycott of membership dues would amount to a "denial" of Jichiro's existence.