Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2012 July 11 - 17 [LABOR]

Stop vicious circle of wage cuts: Gov’t workers’ union chair

In May, 241 members of government workers’ unions filed a suit against the national government for compensatory damages, claiming that a special exemption law to reduce government workers’ wages by 7.8% on average violates the Japanese Constitution.

Following is an Akahata interview with Miyagaki Tadashi, Chair of the Japan Federation of National Public Service Employees’ Unions (Kokko-Roren):

Government workers have had their wages reduced since April based on the law which was forcibly passed in February.

The wage cut for government employees has seriously affected many workers, including private sector workers. I heard of a case where a manager of a private company suggested imposing a wage decrease on its workers because of the government workers’ wage cut. Many local governments have also proposed ordinance bills to local assemblies to reduce local government workers’ wages.

We have strongly opposed cutting public workers’ wages as it will lead to reducing private workers’ wages and bring about a vicious circle of expanding wage decreases. Our concern is becoming a reality. We brought our case into court to stop this vicious spiral.

Wage cuts of government workers have a direct effect on 6.22 million workers, who make up 13% of the workforce in Japan.

A survey shows that government workers earn 6.37 million yen a year on average, while private workers make no more than 4.12 million yen. The average income of government workers is that of regular workers. Private workers, however, include contingent workers. In truth, there is no difference in the average income between full-time, regular public workers and private workers.

What is needed now is not a wage cut but a wage hike for all workers. “Public worker bashing” is spreading. This bashing is an attack on all citizens and not limited to those working on the public sector.

We will work hard to raise wages and secure jobs for all workers as well as strengthen the movement to protect public services supporting people’s livelihoods.