Public servants' salary cuts proposed for the first time

The National Personnel Authority on August 8 recommended that salaries of national government employees be reduced starting from the current fiscal year on the grounds that the wage level in private sectors is declining due to restructuring and wage cuts in major companies.

If the Diet and the Cabinet accept the recommendation, wages of public servants will be cut for the first time since the recommendation system was introduced in 1948.

This may lead to wage cuts for local government employees and non-government workers and accelerate a corporate wage cut competition, warned Akahata of August 9.

Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Fudesaka Hideyo in his statement issued on August 8 stated that such wage cuts will not only worsen living conditions of workers and their families but damage the nation's economy as a whole.

The Koizumi Cabinet intends to get over the current economic crisis by forcing the people to pay more under the adversely revised medical insurance system, and the Authority recommendation is based on the same policy, said Fudesaka.

Referring to public criticism of bureaucrats' privileges and corruption, Fudesaka pointed out that what the government should do immediately is to eliminate all privileges to high-ranking officials, including taking up well-paid jobs in private companies after retirement.

Fudesaka blamed the government for shifting the sacrifice on public employees in education, welfare, and disaster prevention, who work to improve people's living conditions. (end)