Japan Small Makers’ Unions to Seek 17,000-Yen Pay Scale Hike

Tokyo, Dec. 4 (Jiji Press)–A federation of labor unions from small and midsize companies in Japan’s machinery and metal sectors said Thursday that it will request a pay scale hike of at least 17,000 yen per month in next year’s “shunto” spring labor-management negotiations. The Japanese Association of Metal, Machinery and Manufacturing Workers, or JAM, will make its largest-ever demand to narrow the wage gap between small and larger firms. At a briefing in Tokyo, JAM leader Katahiro Yasukochi said that the wage disparity between small and larger companies is growing, vowing to “work tenaciously to raise the real wages of all union member workers.” The latest pay scale hike demand is 2,000 yen higher than in this year’s shunto. Combined with regular wage increases, the federation will seek a pay hike totaling 21,500 yen or more. The federation’s pay demand will be formally adopted at a meeting of its central committee next month. JAM is one of the five industrial labor union federations that constitute the Japan Council of Metalworkers’ Unions, or JCM, which decided Wednesday to request a pay scale increase of 12,000 yen or more per month in the 2026 shunto, on par with this year’s record-high demand. Tomoko Yoshino, president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, the national umbrella body of labor unions, was deputy head of JAM. Also on Thursday, UA Zensen, which comprises unions in industries including textiles and retail, said it will seek a 6 pct wage hike in next year’s shunto. The group will request a 4 pct pay scale increase, the same level as in the 2025 negotiations, aiming to secure an overall wage hike exceeding the Rengo-set target of 5 pct or more. UA Zensen will formally adopt the demand at its central committee meeting set for Jan. 22 next year. The demand will be raised by about 1 percentage point at member unions from firms with low pay levels, in order to narrow the wage gaps between large and small companies and between regular and nonregular workers. The wage increase request for part-time workers will be set at 7 pct, or 85 yen on an hourly pay basis, up 5 yen from this year. “We want to halt the downtrend in real wages,” UA Zensen chief Tomoko Nagashima told a press conference in Tokyo. “We want to fully engage in negotiations on working conditions for workers across Japan in March.” Meanwhile, the Japan Federation of Basic Industry Workers’ Unions (JBU), a JCM member group made up of unions in industries such as steel, shipbuilding and heavy machinery, plans to demand a uniform monthly pay scale increase of 15,000 yen in the 2026 shunto, the same level as this year, sources said. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]