On March 13th, the 2024 spring labor-management negotiations (spring labor negotiations) marked the day when many major companies responded to the demands of labor unions. Photo taken in January 2017 in Tokyo (2024 Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon)
TOKYO (Reuters) – On the 13th, the 2024 spring labor-management negotiations (spring labor negotiations) marked the day when many major companies responded to labor union demands. Nippon Steel (5401.T), opens new tab’s response exceeded requests, with an increase rate of over 10%. There were a number of full responses, and Toyota Motor Corporation (7203.T), which was the driving force, reached its highest level since 1999. Honda (7267.T), opens new tab, Mazda (7261.T), opens new tab, etc. responded to this year’s spring labor wage with the full amount without waiting for the concentrated response date, and the momentum for wage increases is increasing more than last year. . As real wages continue to decline due to high prices, the focus will be on how far they can exceed last year’s levels and whether they can spread to small and medium-sized enterprises and non-regular workers, leading to a virtuous economic cycle. On the 15th, the federation will announce the first round of results, and negotiations will begin in earnest at many small and medium-sized enterprises, which account for about 70% of all employees.
Nippon Steel responded by offering 35,000 yen per month to the union’s request of 30,000 yen. The increase rate is 11.8%. Including regular salary increases, the increase is a significant 14.2%. Toyota responded in full for the fourth consecutive year. The total amount will be increased by 7,940 yen to 28,440 yen per month, including regular salary increases and wage improvements equivalent to base increases (bare). The annual lump-sum payment (bonus) is equivalent to 7.6 months.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (7011.T), which is performing well due to an increase in the defense budget, also responded with full payment. Wage improvement reached the highest level since 2005, and the annual income increase rate including lump-sum payments was approximately 8.3%, exceeding the previous year’s approximately 7.0%. Hitachi (6501.T), opens new tab, Panasonic Holdings (6752.T), opens new tab, Nissan Motor (7201.T), opens new tab, GS Yuasa Corporation (6674.T), opens new tab, etc. also answered in full. At a press conference this morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed the recognition that “it is important that the movement toward strong wage increases spreads to small and medium-sized enterprises,” and during an exchange of views between government, labor, and management in the evening, “Towards the realization of wage increases, “I want to enhance collaboration between the public and private sectors,” he said.See more.
According to a summary of this year’s spring labor demands announced by the Rengo on the 7th (as of the 4th), the weighted average wage increase rate of the 3,102 unions under its umbrella that demanded wage increases using the “average wage method” was 5.85%, compared to the previous year. This exceeded the request total of 4.49%. This is the first time in 30 years that the rate has exceeded 5%, since the final response tally for the 1994 spring labor union (5.40%).
According to the federation, the first round of labor wage increases for the previous year, released two days after the day of intensive responses, was 3.80%. The final tally announced in July was 3.58%, the highest since 2013, when comparisons were made.
However, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, real wages, excluding inflation, continued to be negative for 22 months until January of this year. In particular, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are unable to pass on costs as expected, and many are unable to raise wages sufficiently. According to the Rengo’s final tally, companies with 300 or more employees accounted for 3.64% of companies with 300 or more employees, compared to 3.23% of companies with fewer than 300 employees.
The government, which has been aiming to break out of deflation, wants to create a “virtuous economic cycle” in which wage increases encourage consumption and push up wages again. The Kishida administration is trying to bring national income growth to a point where it exceeds inflation by this summer through income tax cuts and other measures. The Bank of Japan, which is looking to normalize monetary policy, has also indicated its intention to use this year’s spring labor union as an important factor in its decision-making.
Maki Shiraki, Anton Bridge, Atsuko Aoyama, Shinichi Uchida, Hitoshi Ishida Edited by: Nobuhiro Kubo, Shiho Tanaka
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