March 14, 2025
Unions affiliated with the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), such as the Japan Metal, Manufacturing, Information, and Telecommunication Workers’ Union (JMITU) and the Federation of Cinema and Theatrical Workers Union of Japan (Ei-en Roren), on March 13 held rallies, demonstrations, and strikes nationwide in protest against managements’ insincere responses given the previous day to unions’ pay hike demands in this year’s “shunto” wage talks.
A focal point in the ongoing “shunto” negotiations is whether unions can achieve substantial wage hikes that will help workers survive the ongoing cost of living crisis.
JMITU
JMITU locals which went on strike included the IBM Japan Branch and the NTT workers’ group.
JMITU members working at NTT and its group companies rallied in front of the NTT head office in Tokyo’s Otemachi district during the strike.
Usami Shun’nichi who heads the JMITU-affiliated NTT union pointed out that the company boasted that it offered a response equivalent to a monthly pay hike of 12,000 yen, but in reality, a basic pay raise is only 700 yen on average. He said that if the company uses 4.8% of its internal reserves of more than ten trillion yen, it will be able to offer a wage hike of 38,000 yen for regular workers and an hourly wage increase of 400 yen for non-regular workers as demanded by the union.
The JMITU IBM Japan Branch, in protest against the refusal to the union’s demand for a 10% wage increase by IBM Japan and its subsidiary Kyndryl Japan, held a rally in front of the Kyndryl Japan head office in Tokyo’s busy shopping district of Roppongi.
Ei-en Roren
The union at Shochiku which is involved in motion pictures, theater operations, and kabuki staged a rally to push the company to accept the union’s demands for a monthly wage hike of 45,000 yen and company’s action to increase the share of women in managerial and executive positions to 50%.
At the rally in front of the company’s head office, the secretary general of the Shochiku union reported that other Ei-en Roren member unions, such as the union at Kadokawa, also went on strike, and called on rally participants to achieve their goals in this year’s “shunto” labor offensive through union members’ united efforts.
A focal point in the ongoing “shunto” negotiations is whether unions can achieve substantial wage hikes that will help workers survive the ongoing cost of living crisis.
JMITU
JMITU locals which went on strike included the IBM Japan Branch and the NTT workers’ group.
JMITU members working at NTT and its group companies rallied in front of the NTT head office in Tokyo’s Otemachi district during the strike.
Usami Shun’nichi who heads the JMITU-affiliated NTT union pointed out that the company boasted that it offered a response equivalent to a monthly pay hike of 12,000 yen, but in reality, a basic pay raise is only 700 yen on average. He said that if the company uses 4.8% of its internal reserves of more than ten trillion yen, it will be able to offer a wage hike of 38,000 yen for regular workers and an hourly wage increase of 400 yen for non-regular workers as demanded by the union.
The JMITU IBM Japan Branch, in protest against the refusal to the union’s demand for a 10% wage increase by IBM Japan and its subsidiary Kyndryl Japan, held a rally in front of the Kyndryl Japan head office in Tokyo’s busy shopping district of Roppongi.
Ei-en Roren
The union at Shochiku which is involved in motion pictures, theater operations, and kabuki staged a rally to push the company to accept the union’s demands for a monthly wage hike of 45,000 yen and company’s action to increase the share of women in managerial and executive positions to 50%.
At the rally in front of the company’s head office, the secretary general of the Shochiku union reported that other Ei-en Roren member unions, such as the union at Kadokawa, also went on strike, and called on rally participants to achieve their goals in this year’s “shunto” labor offensive through union members’ united efforts.
