The ruling Democratic Party of Japan and the opposition Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito are engaged in a tug of war over wage reductions for national public servants. The Diet has the responsibility to decide on wage levels and working conditions for national public servants.
The parties should start consultations so that they can tackle not only the wage issue but also other reforms related to national government workers.
The three parties agreed to implement the National Personnel Authority's September 2011 call for an average 0.23 percent wage cut and then reduce the wage level to 7.8 percent below the current level in fiscal 2012 and 2013. The DPJ takes the stance that the 0.23 percent cut should be enforced from March 2012, while the LDP and Komeito want to implement a retroactive cut from April 2011.