Chūritsu Rōren was established in 1956 as an association of labor unions affiliated with the General Council of Trade Unions of Japan (Sōhyō), but that were increasingly dismayed by Sōhyō's promotion of contentious non-workplace struggles in support of left-wing political objectives.
Over time, however, Chūritsu Rōren became more conservative and built up its own staff, but continued to co-operate with Sōhyō in many cases.
[2] Although Chūritsu Rōren generally shied away from overtly political actions, the association did participate in the successful struggle in 1958 to defeat the revision of the Police Duties Bill proposed by conservative prime minister Nobusuke Kishi, as well as the ensuing 1960 Anpo protests against revision of the US-Japan Security Treaty, both of which opponents were successfully able to portray as not so much left-right political issues but rather as basic threats to Japanese democracy and civil rights.
That year, it formed a loose association with the National Federation Of Industrial Organisations (Shinsambetsu), intending to merge in the future.
[5] In 1987, Chūritsu Rōren merged with both Shinsambetsu and the larger Japanese Confederation of Labour, to form RENGO.