Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 8 - 14 [LABOR]

7,000 people call for higher wages and more jobs to boost economy

About 7,000 farmers and smaller business owners from across Japan carried out a central action in Tokyo on February 10, opposing a consumption tax increase and calling for economic recovery through higher wages and more jobs.

The action took various forms, including petitions in front of ministry offices, a parade through the Ginza, and a protest in front of the building of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren).

At the central rally held at Hibiya Amphitheater, National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) President Daikoku Sakuji criticized Keidanren’s position that any wage increase for workers this year is “out of the question.” Daikoku explained that large corporations have amassed 266 trillion yen in internal reserves, and that spurring domestic demand through a wage increase and a minimum wage hike to 1,000 yen per hour will increase tax revenues without the need to raise the consumption tax rate.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi cited a study by Daiwa Institute of Research Ltd. that shows that a family of four with 5 million yen annual income will have to shoulder an additional tax burden of 314,000 yen with a 10-percent consumption tax. He said that the JCP has published a proposal for financial resources to fund social services without increasing the consumption tax.

Some 3,500 construction workers gathered to support a campaign to press local governments to adopt ordinances to offer contracts for public works projects to local small-and-medium sized enterprises.

In an action before the Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry, 150 members of women’s and farmers’ organizations protested against Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact and called for ensuring safety of food.

In the protest at the Keidanren building, a 31-year-old temporary worker who is struggling against Sony Corporation’s dismissals of temps due to the damage from the March 11 quake and tsunami, said, “We temps are also humans. We can’t keep silent any longer!”

About a hundred part-time workers of consumers’ cooperatives in 6 prefectures in the disaster-hit Tohoku region paraded through the Ginza shopping district, unfurling fishing boat flags which symbolize fishermen’s wishes for a big catch. In Iwate Prefecture, the minimum hourly wage stands at 645 yen, the lowest of all 47 prefectures. Last year, the figure was raised by one yen. Participants in the parade called for a raise in the minimum wage and an increase in jobs to help in the reconstruction from the disaster.

In an action in front of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Zenroren pointed out that a bill in which the government plans to cut the salaries of public employees is unconstitutional and will adversely affect private sector wages and the economy.