No.1266 Council on Minimum Wage will Show Outlook in July-end
Debates on setting a target for the minimum wage are going on amid a period of sharp price hikes. Wages continues to decline in real terms, which cannot be halted, leading to worsening living conditions of the working population. It is urgent to increase the minimum wage in a drastic way.
URGENTLY NEEDED IS A BIG INCREASE IN MINIMUM WAGE
The current debates on the minimum wage started June 28 in the Central Council on Minimum Wage, led by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Welfare, which is composed of representatives from the sectors of social benefits, labor and management.
\1,500 must be implemented immediately
The government says that the figure for minimum wage should be at \1,000 per hour anywhere in the country by the fiscal 2025, though that is completely insufficient. The highest figure at this moment is achieved in the Tokyo area, \1,041, while the lowest is in Kochi and Okinawa prefectures, which is \820 per hour. The difference is \221, gaps of which are expanding from one region to another.
As for a weighted mean average, it is \930, which means a worker earns annually only \1,674,000 if he/she works for 1,800 hours. According to a survey conducted by the Zenroren, or the National Confederation of Trade Unions, a monthly payment of \240,000 (\1,500 per hour), at the least, is indispensable for a person to live decently anywhere in the country, which is reported in their Investigation on Assets for Minimum Living Costs of the 2022 version.
Some of the big businesses gain tremendous profits, expanding dividends to shareholders and piling up internal reserves, while the working population encounter hardships day by day.
Almost 40% of the working population here are employed on the irregular basis and their average annual income counts \1,762,000, which is close to the minimum wage level. Whether they are employed in the regular or irregular conditions, their incomes are close to the minimum level, being induced closer and closer to it.
Under the circumstances, workers are obliged to survive, economizing in their housing and other essential costs, sometimes engaging in double jobs. They have no savings, being robbed of a way to form a family. It is a crisis of existence; wages in real terms have been shrinking for 25 years. This is a today’s reality in this country.
Government should help more medium-and-small-sized businesses
It is essential for the government to assist financially medium-and-small-sized companies when it commits in surging the minimum wages for workers. Sources are available, if the government imposes only 1% tax on the internal reserves of big businesses, which counts as high as \484 trillion. That would produce a tax revenue amounting almost 5 trillion Yen.
Workers’ organizations present slogans like: ‘pay wages enough to live a decent life if we work 8 hours a day’ and ‘pay \1,500 per hour now’. The Zenrokyo, or the National Trade Union Council, the Zenroren and the Seikyoren, or the Consumers’ Co-operative Union, as well as local organizations have campaigned together across the nation.
These establishments have appealed their demands to the prefectural labor offices and councils on minimum wages, campaigned in the streets in caravans and collected signatures, and etc., exerting the utmost efforts in a creative manner. In the end of July, the central council on the minimum wage will set a prospective figure, which will be conveyed to the local council level for debates to reach a concrete figure. The final decision will be implemented in October.
Let’s stage our campaigns intensively until that day both in the central and local levels. They are (1) to surge massively the minimum wage, (2) to implement a nationally identical norm, rectifying reginal gaps, and (3) to urge the government to intensify its efforts to assist medium-and-small-sized enterprises.
最賃引上げの目安を決める議論は、公益・労働者・使用者の代表でつくる厚労省の「中央最低賃金審議会」で６月28日に始まった。
今すぐ１５００円
政府は、25年度にも全国平均で１時間当たり１０００円以上を目指すとするが、全く不十分と言わざるを得ない。現行で一番高いのは１０４１円の東京、低いのは８２０円の高知と沖縄。その差２２１円、地域の格差も広がっている。
また、全国加重平均は９３０円で、年間１８００時間働いても年収はわずか１６７万４千円。全労連の22年版「最低生計費資産調査」は、人間らしく暮らすためには全国どこでも月額24万円(時給１５００円)以上必要としている。
一部の大企業が莫大な利益を上げ、株主配当と内部留保を拡大する一方で働く者の生活は苦しくなるばかりだ。
就業人口の約４割を占める非正規労働者の年平均給与は１７６万２千円で、最賃平均に近い。正規・非正規を問わず、最賃に準拠するのが実態で、最賃水準に吸い寄せられている。
そうした中で、貧しい住居、切り詰めた生活を強いられ、ダブルワークしないと生活できない、預貯金ゼロなど、家族形成の道も断たれている。まさに生存の危機であり、25年間も実質賃金が目減りし、歯止めがかからない日本の実態だ。
中小支援の強化を
最低賃金の引上げには、中小企業への政府の財政支援が不可欠。財源は４８４兆円にも及ぶ大企業の内部留保に１％課税すればよい。５兆円近い税収となる。
運動側では今年も、「８時間働けば生活できる賃金を」「今すぐ最低賃金１５００円を」のスローガンを掲げて最低賃金大幅引上げキャンペーンが全労協、全労連、生協連や地方組織が連携して全国各地で取り組まれた。
各都道府県の労働局や最賃審議会への要請やキャラバンによる宣伝行動、最賃署名など創意工夫しての実践が報告されている。７月末には「目安」が中央審議会から示され、これを受けて地方審議会で最賃が決まり、10月施行となる。
残された期間に中央・地方で、①最賃大幅引上げ、②地域間格差の是正と全国一律制度の実現、③中小企業への支援の強化を求める運動をさらに強化しよう。
英訳版 ↓
No.1266 Council on Minimum Wage will Show Outlook in July-end
Debates on setting a target for the minimum wage are going on amid a period of sharp price hikes. Wages continues to decline in real terms, which cannot be halted, leading to worsening living conditions of the working population. It is urgent to increase the minimum wage in a drastic way.
URGENTLY NEEDED IS A BIG INCREASE IN MINIMUM WAGE
The current debates on the minimum wage started June 28 in the Central Council on Minimum Wage, led by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Welfare, which is composed of representatives from the sectors of social benefits, labor and management.
\1,500 must be implemented immediately
The government says that the figure for minimum wage should be at \1,000 per hour anywhere in the country by the fiscal 2025, though that is completely insufficient. The highest figure at this moment is achieved in the Tokyo area, \1,041, while the lowest is in Kochi and Okinawa prefectures, which is \820 per hour. The difference is \221, gaps of which are expanding from one region to another.
As for a weighted mean average, it is \930, which means a worker earns annually only \1,674,000 if he/she works for 1,800 hours. According to a survey conducted by the Zenroren, or the National Confederation of Trade Unions, a monthly payment of \240,000 (\1,500 per hour), at the least, is indispensable for a person to live decently anywhere in the country, which is reported in their Investigation on Assets for Minimum Living Costs of the 2022 version.
Some of the big businesses gain tremendous profits, expanding dividends to shareholders and piling up internal reserves, while the working population encounter hardships day by day.
Almost 40% of the working population here are employed on the irregular basis and their average annual income counts \1,762,000, which is close to the minimum wage level. Whether they are employed in the regular or irregular conditions, their incomes are close to the minimum level, being induced closer and closer to it.
Under the circumstances, workers are obliged to survive, economizing in their housing and other essential costs, sometimes engaging in double jobs. They have no savings, being robbed of a way to form a family. It is a crisis of existence; wages in real terms have been shrinking for 25 years. This is a today’s reality in this country.
Government should help more medium-and-small-sized businesses
It is essential for the government to assist financially medium-and-small-sized companies when it commits in surging the minimum wages for workers. Sources are available, if the government imposes only 1% tax on the internal reserves of big businesses, which counts as high as \484 trillion. That would produce a tax revenue amounting almost 5 trillion Yen.
Workers’ organizations present slogans like: ‘pay wages enough to live a decent life if we work 8 hours a day’ and ‘pay \1,500 per hour now’. The Zenrokyo, or the National Trade Union Council, the Zenroren and the Seikyoren, or the Consumers’ Co-operative Union, as well as local organizations have campaigned together across the nation.
These establishments have appealed their demands to the prefectural labor offices and councils on minimum wages, campaigned in the streets in caravans and collected signatures, and etc., exerting the utmost efforts in a creative manner. In the end of July, the central council on the minimum wage will set a prospective figure, which will be conveyed to the local council level for debates to reach a concrete figure. The final decision will be implemented in October.
Let’s stage our campaigns intensively until that day both in the central and local levels. They are (1) to surge massively the minimum wage, (2) to implement a nationally identical norm, rectifying reginal gaps, and (3) to urge the government to intensify its efforts to assist medium-and-small-sized enterprises.
July 13, 2022