Japan Press Weekly

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2018 March 7 - 13 [LABOR]

Labor demonstrations held in Tokyo for victory in this year's wage talks

In the runup to the day most companies offer a response to various labor union's wage-hike demands, workers from throughout Japan on March 7 converged on Tokyo and participated all day in rallies, demonstrations, and petitioning to Dietmembers and to relevant agencies and ministries.

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) and the People's Spring Struggle Joint Committee co-organized this day of action.

The Zenroren-affiliated co-op workers' union marched in demonstration through the high-end shopping area of Ginza near the government district. With sound vans in the lead, they shouted in unison, "Increase the hourly wage to 1,500 yen! Scrap the bill on 'zero-overtime payment' system!"

Outside the Labor Ministry, Zenroren President Odagawa Yoshikazu delivered an inspiring speech to the 2,000 workers gathered, calling for job security, narrowing of the gaps between full-time and part-time workers, and a major wage hike in this year's labor-management talks (shunto).

Odagawa also touched upon the recently-surfaced scandal over fabricated data on work hours, and said that the Abe government should take back all the bills pertaining to its "work style reform" which are based on the flawed data.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Takahashi Chizuko reported to the crowds on the ongoing Diet discussions regarding Abe's work style reform scheme.

Past related articles:
> Shii: Gov’t should give up submitting pro-business ‘work-style reform’ bill to Diet [February 23, 2018]
> 6 opposition parties agree to unite against Abe’s labor deregulation move [February 22, 2018]
> Abe admits discretionary work system won't contribute to reducing working hours [ February 15, 2018]
> Unions hold day of action to have employers implement drastic wage hike [March 9, 2017]