Tag - unions

 
 

UNIONS

Renho attends a news conference in Tokyo on Friday. Renho needs to appeal to a wide range of voters in a race that has over 50 candidates, especially CDP and JCP supporters who don’t like incumbent Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 19, 2024
Japanese Communist Party's shadow looms over Renho in Tokyo race
The appearance of a two-page flier in which the JCP endorsed Renho raised eyebrows and added more uncertainty to her prospects of winning the race.
ANA Holdings has revised its customer service guidelines to include how to respond to various types of harassment of employees by customers.
JAPAN
Jun 6, 2024
Labor group calls for measures to address harassment from customers
One survey of about 33,000 workers showed that 46.8% had experienced so-called customer harassment in the past two years.
Nippon Steel, Japan’s top steelmaker, is sending Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Takahiro Mori to Pittsburgh next week where he’ll meet with local staff and elected officials.
BUSINESS / Companies
May 18, 2024
Nippon Steel boosts efforts to woo U.S. Steel workers and politicians
Japan’s top steelmaker is sending Vice Chairman and Executive Vice President Takahiro Mori to Pittsburgh, where he’ll meet with local staff and elected officials.
U.S. Steel's Edgar Thomson steel mill in Braddock, Pennsylvania
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 11, 2024
How the U.S. Steel takeover became about Biden and swing states
The turmoil threatens to strain U.S. relations with Japan while underscoring how the politics of winning swing-state voters influences business.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 15, 2024
Japan’s labor unions win big pay raises for members
The preliminary figure for the average hike stands at a 33-year high of 5.28%, according to Japan’s largest labor organization.
Results of spring wage negotiations are written on a board at an office of the Japan Council of Metalworkers' Unions in Tokyo's Chuo Ward on Wednesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 13, 2024
Major Japanese firms offering solid pay hikes for second year running
Several companies met or even exceeded labor union demands, raising the possibility the Bank of Japan will adjust monetary policy soon.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 12, 2024
Japan firms across sectors offer pay hikes of up to 12% in spring talks
Early wage deals with unions reflect a recovery in earnings from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as a sense of crisis over labor shortages.
The average demanded wage increase, including pay-scale hikes and regular raises, stood at ¥17,606 as of Monday, up ¥4,268 from around the same time last year.
BUSINESS
Mar 7, 2024
Japan's average pay hike demands top 5% for first time in 30 years
It is the first time in 30 years for the average to exceed 5%, compared with past final survey results.
Nippon Steel Executive Vice President Takahiro Mori, who is set to meet the United Steelworkers (USW) union chief this month, says the Japanese steel producer plans to uphold all of the current agreements between the union and U.S. Steel.
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 5, 2024
Nippon Steel exec to meet USW head to seek support for U.S. Steel deal
Winning the union's backing is a priority for the Japanese steel producer because then the acquisition will be "no longer a political issue."
Vietnam's National Assembly (Parliament) building in Hanoi.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 1, 2024
Report says Vietnam to crackdown on workers' rights and foreign aid
The 88 Project couldn't confirm the document's authenticity but acknowledged its partial coverage in state media.
Japan's unemployment rate fell to 2.4% in January from 2.5% in the previous month, with economists suggesting that the current recession is making firms hesitant to increase job postings.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 1, 2024
Japan’s tight labor market to keep upward pressure on wages
The unemployment rate fell to 2.4% from a revised 2.5% a month earlier, the internal affairs ministry reported Friday.
Starbucks workers hold a rally in New York City in 2022.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 29, 2024
Starbucks' pivot on union may shape labor relations beyond its stores
The iconic coffee chain has been locked in a bitter, high-profile and multifront battle with the union across the U.S. since its first win in 2021.
Labor unions at Toyota and other carmakers are seeking record pay increases in this year's spring wage negotiations.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 15, 2024
Major auto firm unions request record pay hikes ahead of annual talks
Whether major automakers fully accept unions' demands for a second consecutive year is set to be in focus after the prime minister called for wage hikes.
Akihiko Matsuura, head of UA Zensen, has called for a standard 6% increase in total wages.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 2, 2024
Major union UA Zensen calls for 6% pay raise to support BOJ policy shift
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is also pushing for wage gains after hikes last year failed to keep up with inflation, putting a burden on household budgets.
1949
JAPAN / History / Japan Times Gone By
Feb 1, 2024
Japan Times 1924: Rescue workers toiling to save eighteen lives
Workers are in the news when, 100 years ago, miners await a rescue and, 50 years later, unified strikes take place.
Workers assemble vehicles at Toyota's Tsutsumi plant in Toyota, Aichi Prefecture.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 30, 2024
Toyota union eyes extra month's bonus in annual negotiations
Wage increases by Toyota and other carmakers will be seen as a bellwether for the rest of Japan's manufacturing sector and economy.
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 29, 2024
Pay hikes at small firms in focus at Japan’s spring wage negotiations
The decisions of such companies will play a big role in determining whether Japan can achieve a healthy wage-price cycle.
Toyota's main Tokyo office on Wednesday
BUSINESS / Companies
Jan 26, 2024
Toyota union to demand record 2024 bonuses: report
With Toyota saying it expects to post record consolidated operating profits this financial year, the union is also likely to demand high pay hikes.
BUSINESS
Jan 24, 2024
Japanese firms and unions kick off wage talks as markets bet on bigger pay hikes
Japan's big firms are expected to offer their unions wage hikes of 3.85% on average this year, the highest wage increase in 31 years.
Eleven of 21 sectors surveyed saw increases in winter bonus payments at major Japanese firms.
BUSINESS / Economy
Jan 13, 2024
Winter bonuses at major Japan firms see modest rise
The average increased for the second year in a row, though at a slower pace than the 7.77% growth marked in winter 2022.

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Professional cleaner Hirofumi Sakurai takes a moment to appreciate some photographs in a Gotanda apartment whose occupant died alone. 
The last cleanup: Life and death in a lonely Japan