Japan Press Weekly

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2015 February 4 - 10 [LABOR]

Will Rengo’s moderate pay claim really meet workers’ needs?

In this year’s spring wage bargaining round, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), Japan’s largest national center of trade unions, demands a 2% increase in the basic wage. Many union members question whether this amount of increase is sufficient to improve their livelihoods.

In April 2014, the Abe government increased the consumption tax rate from 5% to 8%. Coupled with the yen’s depreciation due to PM Abe’s economic policy (Abenomics), this tax hike caused the increase in prices of goods and services by about 3%. The average of real wages in the country has been less than that of the same month a year earlier for 18 consecutive months. A pay raise of 2% cannot even keep up with the rise in prices.

The Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers’ Unions (JAW), one of Rengo’s main industrial union groups, held a central committee meeting in January and decided on a monthly pay increase demand of 6,000 yen (2%). At a press conference after the meeting, JAW president Aihara Yasunobu said that the sales tax hike is necessary to improve social security programs, as Abe has claimed. The Abe administration, however, is set to submit to the Diet a draft budget for fiscal 2015 which will slash social welfare services overall.

The Japanese Electrical, Electronic and Information Union (JEIU), another influential Rengo-affiliated union, also decided in January to demand a 6,000 yen pay increase per month. JEIU chair Arino Shoji rationalized his union’s “modest” demand by saying, “With just one round of spring wage offensive, we cannot get an enough pay increase to offset the price hike.”

Meanwhile, the Japanese Association of Metal, Machinery and Manufacturing Workers (JAM), a group of unions at smaller companies in Rengo, is pushing for a monthly pay raise of 9,000 yen (3%). JAM’s leadership says that they want to at least make up for the loss of income caused by the sales tax increase.

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), another major national labor center in Japan, determined at the end of January to press for a monthly pay hike of 20,000 yen (6.7%) or more. The All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU) and the Japan Federation of Medical Workers’ Unions (Iroren), both affiliated with Zenroren, demand 30,000 yen and 40,000 yen increases in monthly pay respectively.

Zenroren argues convincingly that a substantial wage hike will boost personal consumption and consequently lead to Japanese economic recovery.


Past related article:
> 2015 Spring Labor Offensive starts [January 15, 2015]