Japan Basic Industries Union to Seek 15,000-Yen Pay Scale Hike

Tokyo, Dec. 5 (Jiji Press)--The Japan Federation of Basic Industry Workers' Unions said Thursday that it will demand a pay scale increase of 15,000 yen per month in next year's "shunto" spring labor-management negotiations.

The pay scale hike demand is the highest ever for the federation, exceeding last year's demand of at least 12,000 yen. It will be formally adopted at a central committee meeting in February.

On Tuesday, the Japan Council of Metalworkers' Unions, a broader organization that includes the federation, adopted a plan to demand a pay scale increase of 12,000 yen or more in the 2025 shunto.

The basic industries union believes it is necessary to continue investing in human resources through high wage increases in the face of sluggish real wage growth amid inflation and a worsening labor shortage.

"Personal consumption is in a severe situation," its central executive committee head, Masao Tsumura, said at a meeting in the western city of Hiroshima. "Sustained wage growth above inflation is needed."

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]