Japanese Unions Win Pay Rises

Pay rises averaging between 2.01 and 3.13 per cent have been secured this year by Japanese unions affiliated to the 20-million-strong International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions (ICEM).

Despite the recent economic downturn in Japan, ICEM unions there demonstrated their strength by winning real pay increases for their members. This year's average wage hikes were only slightly down on the 1997 increases of between 2.29 and 3.19 per cent in plants organised by the ICEM's Japanese unions. But the 1998 annual bargaining round, the shunto, was certainly the toughest in recent years, and the negotiations took longer than usual.