Toyota union decides to demand 4,000 yen hike in basic monthly pay+

NAGOYA, Feb. 12 Kyodo -
Toyota Motor Corp.'s labor union formally decided Thursday to seek an average
increase of 4,000 yen in the basic monthly pay of regular employees to reflect
rising prices, union officials said.
The request, to be filed with the company's management next Wednesday, will
mark the fourth straight year that the labor union has demanded a pay increase.
The union demanded an increase of 1,500 yen a year earlier.
The union also decided at its meeting to seek an average annual bonus of around
1.9 million yen per worker, down more than 500,000 yen from the previous
business year, due to worsening business conditions. The figure is equivalent
to five months' wages plus 200,000 yen.
The requests came as the nation's top automaker has been severely hit by
slumping car sales worldwide amid the economic slowdown. Last Friday, Toyota
lowered its forecast for the 2008 business year to March 31 to a group net loss
of 350 billion yen, the first red ink since it began releasing net earnings
data in 1963.
''The situation is tough but we would like to create an environment to energize
our union members and to revitalize the Japanese economy,'' Mitsuyuki Tsuruoka,
head of the labor union, told reporters.
In addition to the requests, the union is planning to propose to management,
among other things, keeping temporary workers on the payroll.
''There are many temporary workers who are worried (about their future),''
Tsuruoka said, adding that the union will do what it can to ease their
concerns.
==Kyodo
2009-02-12 22:27:26