2013 February 13 - 19 [
LABOR]
JCP influences gov’t to increase wages
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Diet deliberations regarding the 2012 supplementary budget have provided a clear picture of which political party stands up against the Abe government’s pro-business policies and pushes the government for wage hike as people demands.
What the majority of the general public really wants is to obtain decent living conditions with stable employment by putting an end to the deflationary recession and increasing people’s income.
The Japanese Communist Party has put pressure on the government to make efforts to implement a wage hike.
JCP member of the Houser of Representatives Kasai Akira at the February 8 House Budget Committee meeting claimed that the use of only 1% in corporate reserves of 260 trillion yen will realize a 10,000 yen monthly pay raise for 70% of all workers. He urged the government to work for that.
Deputy Prime Minister Aso Taro admitted that corporations have enough financial strength to pay more to their employees and Prime Minister Abe promised to make a pay raise demand to employers.
On February 12, the prime minister in a meeting with three business federations, including the Japan Business Federation, requested that companies which succeeded in achieving a business recovery should think about meeting workers’ higher pay demands.
Meanwhile, other political parties such as the Democratic, the Your, and the Japan Restoration parties compete with each other in seeking policies that favor big business.
DPJ President Kaieda Banri in his interpellation at the January 30 plenary session of the House of Representatives said, “The first thing the government has to do is to enhance the infrastructure for corporate growth.”
The JRP in Diet discussions demanded that the government create a new market for a potential industry to thrive which should be developed under the principle of the market mechanism.
Related past article:
> PM responds to JCP: I’ll ask employers for increase in workers’ wages [February 9, 2013]