[If Japanese unions are poodles, and the big Japanese corporations have already been neoliberalized, then what causes this continuous stream of decent raises?]
ASIA-PACIFIC: Tough times fail to dent Japan pay deals
Financial Times, Mar 15, 2001
By MICHIYO NAKAMOTO
Japan's high level of corporate bankruptcies is expected to rise further but the country's workers are still poised to receive the annual pay increases they have enjoyed for nearly 50 years.
Top carmakers, electronics manufacturers and heavy industrial companies yesterday kicked off the shunto spring wage offensive with increases in employees' salaries that exceed last year's rises.
The increases, which come amid worries over falling prices, could result in an average rise in excess of the 2.06 per cent posted last year. That was a record low and this year could see the first reversal in four years of slower wage growth.
Management at Nissan, which is expected to return to the black this year, responded surprisingly quickly to union demands for an increase in annual bonuses to 5.2 months' salary, compared with four months' salary last year.
The generous increase in bonuses was approved by Carlos Ghosn, the president, who is credited with reviving Nissan's fortunes.
Nissan will also pay its employees 2.1 per cent more in salaries, or an additional Y7,000 (Pounds 40) a month for the average 35-year-old graduate blue-collar worker who has been with the company for 17 years. The increase compares with a 1.98 per cent rise last year, when Nissan posted a Y684bn net loss.
Some companies, such as Mitsubishi Motors, which will suffer a Y250bn net loss due to recalls, are expected to face tough negotiations. Yesterday was the deadline set by the metalworkers' unions, which have a large impact on overall wage negotiations, for management to respond to demands.
While the most troubled companies will not be able to increase salaries, many others, including those that will suffer profits falls, are offering higher wages and bonuses in spite of the increasingly gloomy business outlook.
Toyota, which expects pre-tax profits in the year to the end of this month to fall 9 per cent, will increase salaries by 2.16 per cent. In the electrical appliance sector, Matsushita, which is forecast to see net profits fall 42 per cent, is increasing base salaries by a monthly Y500.
Among heavy industrial companies, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is expected to post a net loss, is adding 2.08 per cent to salaries, compared with a 1.86 per cent increase last year.
The spring wage offensive has become increasingly subdued over the years. But it is still a stark reminder of the rigid labour contract Japanese companies are bound by.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2000.