Japan Press Weekly

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2022 January 26 - February 1 [LABOR]

Zenroren: Pushed by public criticism, business circle admits to need to use internal reserves

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) recently stated that pushed by public criticism, the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) admitted to the need to use a portion of the internal reserves hoarded by large corporations to promote "sustainable growth" including "investment in human resources".

Zenroren made this comment in its statement which was issued in reaction to Keidanren’s annal report, known as the business circle’s strategy for the “shunto” spring wage offensive, which was released by the Keidanren Committee on Management/Labor Policy on January 19.

Zenroren in its statement pointed out that Keidanren in this year’s report had to agree on the use of internal reserves in order to dampen public criticism of their refusal to return a portion of their profits to society. The national trade union center demanded that large corporations use a portion of their huge internal reserves to fulfill their social responsibility.

Meanwhile, regarding complaints about workers’ demand for a minimum wage increase in the report, Zenroren criticized the business federation for ignoring the fact that the current minimum wage level falls short of being a living wage. It stressed that a minimum wage hike to 1,500 yen per hour across Japan is needed.

Zenroren also criticized Keidanren’s call for removing barriers to “flexible labor mobility” as a move to use workers without protection of their labor rights. In this regard, Zenroren expressed its opposition to Keidanren’s attempt to introduce a new system which will enable employers to discharge employees by providing a severance payment even if the discharge is acknowledged to be unfair.