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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Unions set 2006 Spring Struggle in motion

Calling for higher wages and better working conditions, the 2006 Spring Struggle of Japanese trade unions has started.

While Toyota Motor Corporation and other large companies have amassed a total of 8.3 trillion yen (about 75 billion dollars) in profits, workers' wages have declined for seven consecutive years.

The Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) has advised its member corporations to hold down wages as much as possible, saying that "a wage increase will be the cause of trouble in the future.

The government is supportive of the business sector's demand. Takenaka Heizo, minister of Internal Affairs and Communications, said, "The trend of holding down wages should continue." He argues that after the economic bubble burst, the wage level of the bubble economy was maintained, and this has weakened corporate financial positions. "If the recovery of profitability is immediately followed by wage increases, corporations will repeat the same mistakes," he added.

Labor in this regard shows some signs of change. The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), which is Japan's largest but generally pro-business national trade union center, has declared it will demand wage increases for the first time in five years.

Workers who are victimized by the cost-cutting "restructuring" strategies of many large corporations are more discontent than ever with the way Rengo-affiliated trade unions are acting in cooperation with electronics, automobile, steel, and manufacturing companies, forcing these unions to call for a wage increase. Even the Toyota Labor Union, which has persistently refrained from demanding a wage increase, has decided to call for an increase in the base wage.

Zenroren

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) puts up the slogan "Let us build a new Japan that can invigorate all Japanese workers."

In the wage struggle, Zenroren calls for a wage increase for all workers and improvement of wages for part-time workers through eliminating wage disparities between men and women and for their equal treatment with full-time workers.

Zenroren also calls for a raise of the regional minimum wage by at least 100 yen an hour so that everyone can get a 10,000-yen increase a month. This is an important demand at a time when the number of part-time, temporary, and other unstable contingent workers is on the increase.

It regards the struggle against tax increase plans and adverse revision of the medical insurance system as the second tier of the wage struggle.

Another major issue is the struggle against attacks on government workers based on the "small government" policy that means cutting back on various services to residents and encouraging other sectors to follow in reducing wages.
- Akahata, January 17, 2006