A group of about 10 women who used to work at 'kyabakura' bars as hostesses have unionized to demand better treatment for such workers.</PARAGRAPH> <PHOTO> <TABLE WIDTH='250' ALIGN='RIGHT' BORDER='0'> <TR> <TD><IMG ALT='News photo' BORDER='0' SRC='../images/photos2009/nn20091224a7a.jpg' WIDTH='250' HEIGHT='275'/></TD> </TR> <TR> <TD><FONT SIZE='1'><B>Organized: Members of a new labor union for 'kyabakura' bar hostesses hold a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. </B> KYODO PHOTO </FONT></TD> </TR> </TABLE> </PHOTO> <PARAGRAPH>'The bar where I used to work didn't pay me my full wages, and I was a target of malicious sexual harassment by its male manager,' their leader, who asked to be identified as Rin Sakurai, told a news conference Tuesday at the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>Most of the hostesses at the bar were harassed regularly by male workers, who often tried taking photographs up their skirts, she said.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The Kyabakura Union was set up as a branch of a union that covers part-time, nonregular and foreign workers.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The union will hold collective bargaining with bar managers as a number of women have consulted the trade union for part-timers this year about unpaid wages and sexual harassment, said Sakurai, who is in her 20s.</PARAGRAPH> <PARAGRAPH>The union will offer phone counseling for hostesses between noon and 10 p.m. Sunday. The number is –

3373-0180.

Kyabakura is a neologism derived from the English words cabaret and club.