No act which hampers or causes the stoppage of normal maintenance or operation of safety equipment at factories or other workplaces may be resorted to even as an act of dispute.

①When a party concerned in a case involving public welfare business resorts to an act of dispute, the party must notify the Labour Relations Commission and the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare or the prefectural governor to that effect, at least ten days prior to the day on which the act of dispute is to be commenced.

②With respect to a case involving public welfare business as to which a decision for emergency adjustment has been made, the notice under the provisions of the preceding paragraph may not be made until the period provided for in Article 38 has elapsed.

When it has been publicly announced that a decision for emergency adjustment has been made, the parties concerned may not resort to any act of dispute for fifty days from the date of the public announcement.

①In the case of a violation of the provisions of Article 37, the employers or organization thereof, the workers' organization or other persons or organization thereof, responsible for the violation, is punished by a fine not more than one hundred thousand yen.

②The provisions of the preceding paragraph, in the case of corporation, apply to the executive board members, directors, executive officers or other officers who execute the business of the corporation, and in the case of organization without legal personality, apply to the representative person or other officers who execute the business of the organization.

③The total amount of the fine imposed for one act of dispute may not exceed one hundred thousand yen.

④When applying the provisions of paragraph (1) to corporations, employers' or workers' unions or strike bodies without legal personality, that have been dissolved, those organizations are deemed to be as still in existence.

①In the case of a violation of the provisions of Article 38, the employers or employers' organization thereof, the workers' organization or other persons or organization thereof, responsible for the violation, is punished by a fine of not more than two hundred thousand yen.

②The provisions of paragraphs (2) to (4) of the preceding Article apply mutatis mutandis to a case set forth in the preceding paragraph. In that case, the term "one hundred thousand yen" in paragraph (3) of the same Article is to be replaced with "two hundred thousand yen."

Violation under Article 39 is to be discussed upon the request of the Labour Relations Commission.

The chairperson of a conciliation committee or an arbitration committee, in carrying out conciliation or arbitration, may order anyone obstructing the fair progress of conciliation or arbitration to withdraw from the meeting.