INTERVIEW: Small Makers’ Union to Highlight Workers’ Plight in “Shunto”

Tokyo, Dec. 30 (Jiji Press)–A Japanese federation of labor unions at small and midsize machinery and metal makers will highlight the plight of workers in next spring’s “shunto” annual wage negotiations with the management, its leader, Katahiro Yasukochi, has said. “We’ll show the management side the harsh realities of workers struggling to make ends meet,” said Yasukochi, who heads the Japanese Association of Metal, Machinery and Manufacturing Workers, or JAM. In the 2026 shunto, JAM plans to request a pay scale hike of at least 17,000 yen per month, its largest demand, in hopes of achieving a pay rise that outpaces inflation. Noting that wage disparities between small and large companies further widened through the 2025 shunto, Yasukochi said in a recent interview that the planned request “embodies our determination not to tolerate any bigger disparities.” “We will approach the negotiations with this determination,” he continued. Also, Yasukochi expressed a commitment to urging the management side to allow small and midsize companies to reflect increased labor costs in product and service prices, with the aim of narrowing the wage gap between large and small companies. JAM intends to call on the management side to comply with the law to ensure proper transactions with small and midsize contractors, which was revised and renamed from the subcontract law, after it enters into force at the start of 2026, requiring ordering companies to negotiate prices with contractors. Yasukochi said that the labor group aims to make great progress in the upcoming shunto in its efforts to ensure appropriate pricing, which is essential to secure necessary funds for wage hikes. He emphasized the need to change the mindset of corporate managers who hesitate to negotiate prices for fear of losing business, saying, “We want to spread a mindset throughout society accepting that it is natural for prices to rise (under inflation).” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]