Business, labor leaders start annual wage talks

The leaders of Japan's main business and labor organizations held talks on Tuesday, marking the start of this year's annual management-labor negotiations.

Fujio Mitarai, the chairman of Keidanren, the Japan Business Federation, met Nobuaki Koga, the president of Rengo, the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Mitarai said he expected management-labor talks to be tough this year. He said management would put the priority on job security, and hinted that some struggling companies may also seek to freeze annual wage increases based on seniority.

Koga said annual wage increases form the core of trust between labor and management, and are a policy minimum that must be upheld. He stressed that if management fails to maintain the annual increases, anxieties over employment will persist and dampen personal consumption and accelerate deflation.

At Tuesday's meeting, Koga also asked management to improve the treatment of temporary and other non-regular workers. He also expressed concern over a continued decline in wages for employees of small- and medium-sized businesses.

Keidanren sought understanding of management efforts to maintain employment above all, noting that member companies have 6 million surplus personnel.

Labor unions submit their requests for higher wages to management next month. Rough going is likely as both sides are far apart over regular annual wage raises.