Japan Press Weekly

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2021 March 10 - 16 [LABOR]

NTT workers: NTT should provide pay hike, not lavish dinners for gov't bureaucrats

Unions affiliated with the National Confederation of Trade Unions, such as the Japan Metal, Manufacturing, Information, and Telecommunication Workers' Union (JMITU) and the Japan Federation of Medical Workers’ Unions (Iroren), on March 11 participated in rallies and strikes across Japan, in protest against a refusal by management to accept their demand for pay hikes in this year’s spring wage bargaining round (shunto).

JMITU

Among JMITU locals, 52 organizations, including the IBM Japan branch and the NTT workers’ group, went on strike. JMITU members working at NTT and its group companies staged strikes at 24 offices across Japan.

In Tokyo, members of the JMITU-affiliated union at NTT held a rally in front of the head office of NTT Holdings. JMITU local’s head Usami Shun’ichi pointed out, “While pouring money into lavish dinners with government bureaucrats and politicians, NTT refused to accept our demand for higher wages and closed down staff canteens as a cost-cutting measure.” Usami added, “Even under the COVID-19 recession, NTT in 2020 amassed record-breaking profits and increased its internal reserves by 466.2 billion yen to 10. 8 trillion yen,” pointing out that the company has sufficient financial strength to offer higher wages.

Iroren

Seeking to push management to increase wages and employ more workers, 100 Iroren member unions conducted rallies, strikes, and street actions.

At Toukatsu Hospital in Chiba’s Nagareyama City, the Iroren branch staged a one-hour walkout becasue management refused to offer an increase in monthly base wages in talks with the union.

At a rally held during the walkout, branch head Ozawa Yoshinori said, “We, hospital workers are dedicated to the fight against COVID-19 and are working hard to prevent an occurrence of cluster infections. Hospital administrators should compensate us for our valuable work with higher wages and additional staffing.”

Past related article:
> Thorough probe needed to uncover truth behind lavish dinner given by NTT to communications official: Shii [March 5, 2021]