NTT Corp.'s union conditionally approved a radical NTT restructuring plan Thursday to slash personnel costs through wage cuts or transfers to lower-paying subsidiaries.
The All NTT Workers Union of Japan group, which includes 210,000 employees in NTT group companies, put the motion to a vote at a regular general meeting at Takamatsu, Kagawa Prefecture.
The restructuring plan, unveiled earlier this year, will affect 110,000 NTT employees.
As the restructuring program was accepted by the union, NTT union officials plan to present their demands to the management of various NTT group companies, starting with NTT West Corp.
The union is expected to give management two weeks to respond to its demands, including yearend bonuses and separation allowances.
Negotiations between NTT management and the union are expected to be tough, as the NTT workers union is seeking full compensation from NTT for any wage cut unionized NTT employees may suffer after they are transferred to NTT subsidiaries.
The full compensation would cost NTT 500 billion yen. The company wants a compensation package that would amount to between 40 percent and 50 percent of the pay difference.
NTT's restructuring plan comes amid increasing pressure from within the government to foster greater competition in the nation's burgeoning telecom market.
The Telecommunications Council, an advisory panel to the minister of public management, home affairs, posts and telecommunications, is set to release later this year a second report that could shape NTT's future status as the nation's dominant telecom carrier.
Officials at the NTT union say they hope to get a settlement from various NTT group companies around late October or early November.