Thursday's decision by the nation's largest labor federation to effectively accept a controversial government plan to adopt merit-based pay for highly skilled jobs was apparently caused by high-handed government tactics that left the labor union no choice.
"If it's not revised, it would only lead to longer working hours," Rikio Kozu, head of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), told Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at his office Thursday.
"I will take the request properly and consider it," Abe was quoted as telling him.