Japan's metal industry unionists demand record pay hike in 2024

Nippon Koshuha Steel Co

07/12/2023 11:25

TOKYO, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Japan's labour group of metal
workers has formally decided to demand a monthly base pay rise
of 10,000 yen ($67.91) or more at wage talks with management
next March, the Japan Council of Metalworkers' Unions (JCM)
said.
    The JCM has long been considered a pace-setter for annual
wage negotiations and represents about 2 million workers for
blue chip companies including Toyota Motor, Panasonic and Nippon
Steel.
    Its decision late on Wednesday follows a series of big wage
hikes at the country's major companies with a reputation for
cautiously reserving their cash rather than boosting investment
and rewarding workers with higher pay.
    Ongoing labour shortages and high inflation are enforcing
change to the entrenched deflationary mindset that has
characterised the world's third largest economy for decades.
    The metal unionists' group's demand for 2024 base pay hikes
compares with the 6,000 yen it requested this year and a modest
3,000 yen pay raise for seven years until last year. 
    The latest demand marked the highest pay hike request on
record going back to 1998, when the JCM set its previous high of
a 7,000-yen base salary hike.
    Any corporate will to continue wage hikes should help the
central bank aim of meeting a 2% inflation target backed by
sustainable wage growth.
    Base pay, once raised, is hard to cut even during economic
downturns as it provides the basis of future retirement fees and
pension payouts, burdening corporations.
    In Japan, wages have been almost frozen since the 1990s when
the country's asset bubble burst, beginning in an era of
deflation.
    Japan's largest trade union confederation Rengo demands wage
hikes of at least 5%, including 3% base pay rises, prompting the
JCM and other unionists to follow suit, while small firms that
employ seven of every 10 workers and make up 99.7% of Japanese
firms will struggle to make ends meet to raise wages by as much.
    ($1 = 147.2500 yen)

 (Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; editing by Barbara Lewis)
 ((tetsushi.kajimoto@thomsonreuters.com;))