National Mar 31, 2020
For Japan's nonregular workers, a weaker safety net as COVID-19 spreads
by Magdalena Osumi
Different conditions from full-time staff creates worries for foreign-language teachers and others.
National Mar 19, 2020
Tokyo Disneyland workers press for wages to be paid through virus shutdown
A labor union for nonregular workers at Tokyo Disneyland on Thursday asked the operator of the major theme park to keep paying staff while the facility remains closed due to the spread of COVID-19. The union said the workers were told by the operator Oriental ...
Business / Corporate Mar 13, 2020
Japan Post group to halve recruits in 2021 after insurance scandal
Japan Post Holdings Co. plans to hire 2,055 new graduates in April 2021, less than half of some 4,300 slated to start working for the postal service group next month. The plan, announced Thursday, falls in line with the group's moves to review its marketing ...
Business / Corporate Mar 11, 2020
Jittery over COVID-19, Toyota and other Japan firms shun base pay hikes
Major companies were reluctant to offer base pay hikes during annual wage talks, with Toyota Motor forgoing its uniform monthly pay-scale increase for the first time since 2013.
Business Feb 20, 2020
Spread of COVID-19 casts shadow over Japan's shuntō wage talks
The widening outbreak of the new coronavirus originating in China has started to affect annual shuntō wage negotiations. Tougher wage talks are expected this year, with management increasingly cautious about agreeing to pay hikes amid growing concerns over corporate performance. The Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or ...
Business | FOCUS Feb 12, 2020
Japan's efforts to raise wages wane as firms embrace merit-based pay
by Tetsushi Kajimoto and Izumi Nakagawa
More Japanese companies are shifting to merit-based pay as competition for workers heats up, but the change risks holding back the sort of blanket wage hikes the prime minister says are needed to inflate the economy. Ahead of annual labor talks set for March 11, ...
Business Feb 11, 2020
The labor union at MUFG Bank plans to scrap its current system of seeking pay scale hikes at a uniform rate for all workers in this year's shuntō labor management talks, it has been learned. Based on a proposal from the management side, the union ...
Business Feb 7, 2020
Japan firms slowly moving away from old ways on recruitment and pay
by Junko Horiuchi
Japan's unique, long-held employment practices characterized by annual new graduate recruitment, lifetime jobs and seniority-based pay raises have helped support economic growth in the postwar period. But many major companies have begun to question whether to continue with the decades-old system at a time when ...
Business / Corporate Jan 28, 2020
Japan's top business lobby calls for review of uniform base pay hikes
Keidanren called for a review of the practice that sees labor unions demand a uniform pay hike, saying the performances of individual firms and employees should be reflected.
Business Jan 24, 2020
Japan electronics union to seek monthly pay hike of ¥3,000 or more
The Japanese Electrical Electronics & Information Union, or JEIU, decided Friday to seek a pay-scale increase of ¥3,000 or more per month in this year's shuntō management-labor negotiations. The JEIU, composed mainly of labor unions at electronics makers, adopted the decision at a central committee ...
Business / Corporate Jan 23, 2020
Toyota union to demand ¥10,100 monthly rise and bonus of 6.5 months' pay
Toyota Motor Corp.'s labor union plans to demand a monthly average pay rise of ¥10,100 per union member in this year's annual spring wage negotiations, sources close to the matter said Thursday. The amount is less than the ¥10,700 raise agreed last year with the ...