March 13, 2015
Telecom workers and railway workers with each industrial union on March 12 went on strike to demand higher wages.
NTT
NTT workers affiliated with the Telecommunication Industry Workers’ Union (Tsushin-roso) went on strike at 81 NTT offices across Japan. In front of the head office of NTT Corporation in Tokyo, about 100 unionized workers had a rally demanding an increase of 30,000 yen in monthly salaries for regular workers and hourly wages to be raised by at least 250 yen for non-regular workers.
The NTT Group has internal reserves of 9.14 trillion yen, with a record-high operating profit of more than 1.21 trillion yen. Tsushin-roso Chair Usami Toshikazu said, “NTT can implement an increase of 30,000 yen for all its group workers at a cost of 355 billion yen, which is about the same amount as the 361 billion yen its five major groups pay to the NTT holding company.”
After the spring labor-management wage talks last year, Japan’s largest telecom company increased the ceiling on salary raises only for those in managerial or higher positions. A majority of rank-and-file workers were, in effect, left without any pay hike.
Usami said, “Their basic pay hasn’t gone up for more than 14 years. The non-transparent personnel evaluation system based on their job performance has widened the wage gap among NTT workers.”
JR
Japan Railways workers under the banner of the All Japan Construction, Transport and General Workers’ Union (Kenkoro) went on strike for safe transportation and a 40,000-yen increase a month.
About 100 workers and supporters joined either a JR West strike or related rallies, and 110 union members took part in a JR East strike.
A rally took place outside JR Ichigaya Station in Tokyo. A rail union worker said that JR East reported the biggest current profit ever, and that its total internal reserve stands at 2.6 trillion yen. The demand for an increase of 40,000 yen a month is very reasonable and realistic, the worker added.
NTT
NTT workers affiliated with the Telecommunication Industry Workers’ Union (Tsushin-roso) went on strike at 81 NTT offices across Japan. In front of the head office of NTT Corporation in Tokyo, about 100 unionized workers had a rally demanding an increase of 30,000 yen in monthly salaries for regular workers and hourly wages to be raised by at least 250 yen for non-regular workers.
The NTT Group has internal reserves of 9.14 trillion yen, with a record-high operating profit of more than 1.21 trillion yen. Tsushin-roso Chair Usami Toshikazu said, “NTT can implement an increase of 30,000 yen for all its group workers at a cost of 355 billion yen, which is about the same amount as the 361 billion yen its five major groups pay to the NTT holding company.”
After the spring labor-management wage talks last year, Japan’s largest telecom company increased the ceiling on salary raises only for those in managerial or higher positions. A majority of rank-and-file workers were, in effect, left without any pay hike.
Usami said, “Their basic pay hasn’t gone up for more than 14 years. The non-transparent personnel evaluation system based on their job performance has widened the wage gap among NTT workers.”
JR
Japan Railways workers under the banner of the All Japan Construction, Transport and General Workers’ Union (Kenkoro) went on strike for safe transportation and a 40,000-yen increase a month.
About 100 workers and supporters joined either a JR West strike or related rallies, and 110 union members took part in a JR East strike.
A rally took place outside JR Ichigaya Station in Tokyo. A rail union worker said that JR East reported the biggest current profit ever, and that its total internal reserve stands at 2.6 trillion yen. The demand for an increase of 40,000 yen a month is very reasonable and realistic, the worker added.
