Under the traditional Japanese system, employees qualified for a lump sum at retirement (over and above the state pensionscheme) after 30 years at the same firm, which strongly discouraged mid-career moves.
Areas under dispute have included pay and pensions, with the CWU saying a pay rise came with unacceptable strings attached, and the Royal Mail wanting to scrap its final salary pensionscheme and raise the retirement age.
People who worked for the state, in state-owned companies or in state-approved collectives, enjoyed cradle-to-grave benefits ranging from housing, education and health care to a generous pensionscheme, with an official retirement age of 55 for men and 50 for women for manual workers (but five years more for white-collar workers) and a replacement rate of about 80% of final salary.