Japanese workers demand pay rise amid recession

TOKYO (AFP) — Thousands of workers rallied at a Tokyo park on Saturday, demanding companies keep jobs and increase salaries to stimulate recovery from a deepening recession.

"Secure regular pay rises! Have serious talks with management about rises in consumer prices," Tsuyoshi Takagi, president of the Japan Trade Union Confederation, said in an address to kick-start the rally.

"If we accept their argument that there are no rises in prices, our work conditions will face big trouble ahead," he said.

Labour unions have argued salaries should be increased in accordance with price rises, on top of seniority-based annual pay rises.

Takagi said it was "nothing but outrageous" that some big companies were now considering skipping annual pay rises based on the length of service.

The confederation, better known as Rengo, is an umbrella organisation grouping trade unions across the nation with a membership of more than six million.

The workers who got together at the park in central Tokyo then marched in the capital with banners reading "Pay rise is the strongest economic stimulus" and "Never let workers get fired!".

Labour unions are in the middle of negotiations with management over salary scales for the fiscal year starting on April 1.

Japanese companies are struggling amid the worst recession in more than three decades and there is little hope that Rengo's demands will be met.

Firms have announced massive job cuts, shattering Japan's job-for-life myth.