Annual wage negotiations got under way Tuesday as leaders of the nation's most powerful business lobby and the biggest umbrella labor body met in Tokyo to discuss pay for the coming business year.
Tough negotiations are expected following the meeting between Keidanren Chairman Hiromasa Yonekura and Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) President Nobuaki Koga, as the business federation has suggested that seniority-based regular wage increases for each worker may be frozen or delayed.
Rengo is seeking a 1 percent hike in overall pay in the month-long "shunto" spring labor-management talks, while the new government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe aims to boost private consumption to lift the ailing economy out of chronic deflation.