The Japan Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) called on the Bank of Japan on May 21 to give up its current easy monetary policy, saying it is having a detrimental effect on the economy.
Representatives of the nation's largest umbrella labor organization met with Toshihiko Fukui, senior deputy governor of the central bank, and expressed their desire to see the central bank swiftly bring interest rates to "proper levels." The BOJ's key discount rate has been kept at a record-low 0.5 percent since September 1995 in an effort to stimulate the economy by encouraging more corporate and housing investment.
But Rengo maintained that while such objectives have on the whole been achieved, it was at the expense of depositors and pensioners dependent on income from interest on their savings. Consumer prices began rising with the 2 percentage point hike in the consumption tax that began in April, it said, adding that a prolonged easy monetary policy threatens to reduce workers' savings in real terms.