Wage Talks Begin in Earnest at Japanese Electronics Makers

Tokyo, Feb. 19 (Jiji Press)–Labor unions of major Japanese electronics makers kicked off this year’s “shunto” spring wage negotiations in earnest Thursday, submitting pay hike demands to their respective firms’ management. Unions at Hitachi Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and other large companies requested a pay scale increase of 18,000 yen per month, bigger than last year’s record-high demand. Their peers at heavy machinery makers have also submitted large pay scale demands. Large corporations are expected to present their responses to the requests on March 18. The focus will be on whether the firms will raise wages at a scale that would lead to real wage growth amid the country’s persistent inflation. Miyuki Hanzawa, head of the Hitachi union, submitted a written demand to management at the company headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday. “The source of growth is investment in people,” Hitachi Vice President Susumu Takimoto told reporters. “We will positively consider (wage hikes) based on our business performance.” Electronics makers’ unions, which set a unified wage demand and negotiation dates, have sought pay scale increases for 13 consecutive years. In light of the firms’ different business structures, the unions have allowed wage agreements to vary by company since 2020 if they are above a certain pay level. In last year’s shunto, the unions submitted a 17,000 yen pay scale increase request, which was fully met by Hitachi, Fujitsu Ltd. and NEC Corp. Labor and management settled on a 15,000 yen increase at Mitsubishi Electric, a 13,000 yen hike at Panasonic Holdings Corp. and a 12,000 yen rise at Sharp Corp. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]