Corporate bosses to take a 'base wage cuts' offensive

Corporate Japan will take a major offensive to wear down labors' annual Spring Struggle for a wage increase and better working conditions.

In its annual labor policy report published on December 16, the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren or JBF) proposed cutbacks in the "base wage" as part of the effort to ensure that Japanese companies can survive international competition in the era of globalization. It is the first time the JBF calls for the wage base to be held down. Last year's JBF report just called for the "annual wage increase" system to be reviewed.

The JBF report stated that employers may want to discuss with labor not only the abolition or reduction of the annual pay increase but a cut in the base wage.

Arguing that the seniority-base wage system is an obstacle to full -fledged global operations as multinational corporations, the report called for a performance-based wage system.

Akahata of December 17 stated that the JBF proposal is tantamount to rejecting the annual wage increase system and is aimed at further undermining the labor laws.

In Akahata's analysis, two factors stand out as an underlying cause of the policy change from last year's "review" to this year's "base-wage cuts". One is that Toyota Motor rejected any wage increase in spite of its biggest ever current profit of 1.4 trillion yen, and the other is that electric appliance majors are abolishing the system of annual wage increases.

Akahata pointed out that the JBF policy will inevitably increase the contradiction between business circles and the people suffering from unemployment or overwork caused by corporate restructuring. (end)