Labor chief calls for pay hikes across board

January 25, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's top labor leader Rikio Kozu said Wednesday that all workers in the country should enjoy pay hikes through this year's "shunto" nationwide wage negotiations.

The spread of pay hikes so far should be taken as "far from enough," Kozu, president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, said in an interview. He stressed that corporate profits should be distributed fairly to employees.

"If the view persists that small businesses have nothing to do with current pay hike moves, there will no chance of combatting deflation in the county," Kozu said.

The Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, is urging its members, mainly major companies, to raise wages by 3 percent in line with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's request.

"Rengo is seeking hikes of around 4 percent," Kozu said. He reiterated the national labor center's stance of seeking pay scale hikes, in a stark contrast with the management side's intention to increase bonuses.

While criticizing corporate managers' tendency to improve productivity though cuts in labor costs, Kozu said Rengo will particularly help non-regular employees win higher pay. Jiji Press