Japan Press Weekly

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2019 December 25 - 2020 January 14 [LABOR]

Zenroren calls for winning minimum hourly wage hike to 1,500 yen in this year’s spring wage struggle

Union activists of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) and the People’s Spring Struggle Joint Committee on the morning of January 7 took to the streets at five locations in Tokyo to call on workers to support a minimum hourly wage hike to 1,500 yen across Japan.

This action was held in the runup to the 2020 spring wage struggle.

In front of Shinjuku Station, Zenroren-affiliated union members together with those from unions composing the Tokyo Spring Struggle Joint Committee handed out to workers on their way to work leaflets calling for creating a society where everyone can live a decent life with an eight-hour work day.

From the top of a campaign van, Zenroren President Odagawa Yoshikazu and other union representatives used a microphone to appeal for support for the unions’ demand.

Odagawa said, “Let us force large corporations to distribute their huge amount of internal reserves fairly across society! Let us push the government to work to increase the minimum hourly wage sufficiently!”

A representative of the National Federation of Trade Unions of Agricultural Corporatives Association (Zennokyororen) pointed out that the deterioration of rural areas will severely affect urban areas, and stressed the need to eliminate regional minimum wage gaps and other regional disparities.

A representative of the Tokyo Spring Struggle Joint Committee said that an increase in the minimum wage will contribute to providing higher wages and better working conditions to all workers.

Past related articles:
> Youth march for minimum wage hike to 1,500 yen across Japan [December 23, 2019]
> Majority of bar associations call for drastic minimum wage hike and elimination of regional income gaps [July 26, 2019]