Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 15 - 21 [POLITICS]

Rengo supports Noda gov’t consumption tax hike plan

The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), the largest support base of the Democratic Party of Japan, is keen to back up the Noda government’s so-called combined social security and tax reforms which rely on a consumption tax hike.

Rengo at the end of last month held a rally with 300 participants that included Dietmembers and their secretaries of the DPJ, the People’s New Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Komei party. The reported purpose of the rally was to support the controversial combined reforms, the major issue in the current Diet session.

At a news conference in January, Rengo President Koga Nobuaki said that labor unions have to work hard to support changing the social welfare and tax systems. The Rengo Central Committee on January 19 decided to carry out a national campaign for success to achieve the reforms.

On February 16, Rengo held a rally to confirm its determination to make further efforts to work for the combined social security and tax reforms.

In the rally, Fujii Hirohisa, DPJ Tax Commission chair, asked for Rengo’s cooperation, saying, “The combined reforms are essential to create a stable social security system. The reforms may cause a negative impact on Japan’s economy, but the impact will be relatively moderate.” The rally adopted an appeal calling on both the ruling and opposition parties to cooperate with each other to achieve the reforms.

In this year’s spring wage struggle, Rengo’s major industrial unions, including the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers’ Unions and the Japanese Electrical Electronic and Information Union, decided to give up making demands for a basic pay increase for three consecutive years.