Japan Press Weekly

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2012 August 1 - 14 [LABOR]

Gov’t employees over 55 years old may suffer termination of regular pay increase

The National Personnel Authority on August 8 submitted to the Cabinet and the Diet a recommendation to stop annual pay increases for government workers aged 55 and over from next January.

That would lead to a rollback in wages for all middle-aged workers, including those in the private sectors.

Meanwhile, regarding monthly salaries and seasonal bonuses, the NPA decided to not make an adjustment. The reason behind this is that a cutback in government workers’ wages was carried out in April based on the 7.8% wage cut bill which was bulldozed through the Diet in February by the Democratic, the Liberal Democratic, and the Komei parties.

The Japan Federation of National Public Service Employees’ Unions (Kokko-roren) on the same day issued a statement in protest against the NPA recommendation.

In the statement, Kokko-roren stated that the recommendation is unacceptable because to stop a regular pay increase for workers aged 55 and over is age discrimination and violates the principle of the seniority-pay system.

The union also criticized the NPA for abandoning its responsibility as a compensatory body responsible for monitoring restrictions of fundamental workers’ rights. Kokko-roren stressed that to restore the fundamental labor rights to public sector workers is an urgent task.