Japan Press Weekly

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2013 May 29 - June 4 [LABOR]

Japan’s convenience store chain gives fake pay raise

It has become apparent that Japan’s second largest convenience store chain’s salary increase plan is deceptive, though Prime Minister Abe Shinzo proudly described the plan as an outcome of “Abenomics” financial measures.

Lawson Inc. early this year announced that it plans to increase its employees’ annual income by the end of this fiscal year ending February 2014, which in actuality benefits only a portion of full-time employees through an increase in the amount of the annual bonus.

The amount of the annual bonus depends on business performance, so the annual bonus increase will not lead to a wage increase for all workers.

The company’s annual securities report which was released on May 22 shows that Lawson workers’ average earnings for FY 2012 starting March 2012 and ending February 2013 was 6.49 million yen, a decrease of 515,542 yen from the previous year. The reason for the decrease is that the total amount of bonus paid was less than that in the previous year due to poor business performance.

In contrast, Lawson President Niinami Takeshi received a salary of 193 million yen in FY 2012, a continuing increase from 102 million yen in FY 2010 and 148 million yen in FY 2011.

In a meeting of the government council on industrial competitiveness, Niinami, who is a member of the council, claimed that rules on dismissal should be relaxed with the aim of cutting labor costs by allowing the sacking of full-time workers more easily and the use of more contingent workers.