At its 2nd Strategic Committee meeting, held today from 10:00 a.m., the IMF-JC confirmed the following elements of its way forward for the 2010 Spring Offensive.
- The IMF-JC issued its views on Nippon Keidanren's "Report of the Committee on Management and Labor Policy," issued on January 19, 2010, with the theme of "Invest in People and Distribute Wealth to Households to Protect and Create Jobs!" In these views, it pointed out that "the report lacked the proactive stance by the Federation to eliminate uncertainty about jobs and livelihoods and fulfill its duties for avoiding deflation and assisting in the recovery of the Japanese economy. The IMF-JC clarified its reactions and perspectives in the following eight areas:
(1) Protecting and ensuring jobs are the social duties that management should fulfill.
(2) Ensuring the periodic pay raise amount is the basis for mutual trust between labor and management.
(3) The declining distribution of wealth given to workers should be recovered over the medium and long term.
(4) Wages should be improved to help boost consumption and the economy.
(5) Bonuses should ensure stability in workers' lives.
(6) Work-life balance should be realized through shorter actual working hours.
(7) Employment of non-regular workers should be stabilized and labor conditions improved.
(8) Industry-based minimum wages should be established to boost wages and correct discrepancies.
- There is a concern that the Japanese economy will fall into a deflationary spiral due to worsening conditions and lower consumption. Today the most important role that labor and management must play is to ensure safety and stability of workers and stop the deflationary spiral by boosting society and domestic demand. To fulfill this role, we must work toward fully ensuring the periodic pay raise amount.
- On the other hand, while performance among companies in the metal industry has been sobering, manufacturing is the foundation of the Japanese economy, and preserving the core techniques, teaching the personnel, and handing down the skills and technologies that make manufacturing possible are the essential criteria for corporate development. For the metal industry to create high added value and fulfill its role as a leader in economic regeneration, it must maintain motivation and elevate the fighting spirit of workers by ensuring yearly bonuses of four months' salary and maintaining the periodic pay raise amount at the minimum needed for stability in workers' daily lives. It must also work to fulfill our demands, such as providing work-life balance that creates an environment in which workers can make full use of their skills.
- Each industry-based union, primarily the designated union for aggregating responses, will submit its demands by February 25, and negotiations will begin promptly. The JC Joint Struggle Unified Response Day has been set for March 17, and responses will be elicited primarily for the designated aggregating union.
The 3rd Strategic Committee meeting will be held on Thursday, February 25 starting at 10:00 a.m.
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