Citigroup Inc. has offered 1,350 employees at its consumer finance unit in Japan early retirement with two months' pay as the company withdraws from the business, a proposal the workers' union called unacceptable.
CFJ KK, Citigroup's local consumer finance unit, made the offer in a memo distributed to all its employees Monday, revealed Akihito Kawamura, chairman of CFJ's labor union. Tokyo-based Citigroup spokeswoman Atsuko Yoshitsugu declined to confirm the document, which was addressed from Masanori Hogi, CFJ's chief administrative officer.
"We can't accept this offer," Kawamura said in an interview Wednesday in Nagoya, calling two months' pay insufficient. "We've asked all employees not to accept this, and we plan to negotiate with management."