The Spring Struggle for a better life was completed with the four pillars of (1) wage struggle, (2) reduction of working hours, (3) improvement of policy and structure and (4) improvement of employment and labor systems toward the establishment of the 21st Century's New Work Rules. Constructing social system that centers ordinary citizens was prioritized to realize the fair distribution of social benefit, to recover the economy and to stabilize the employment . Although the final evaluation is to be done after the final negotiation, some obtained answers at this point should be summarized as follows in order to contribute to the last discussions by the affiliates. For the procedure by the RENGO organization, as well as the deliberation and adoption of "the conclusion" by the Central Committee, the Struggle Organization and the Struggle Headquarter for the 98 Spring Struggle for a better life will be dismissed.

1. Result of Working Hours Struggle

1998 Spring Struggle Results (as of 1 June, 1998)

Individual Specific Wage Scale Method with base-up only (yen)

			average per union (simple average)
			wage level before revision	1998 demand			1998 answer			1997 result
	no. of unions	no. of person		wage level	base-up only	rate	wage level	base-up only	rate	wage level	base-up only	rate
age 35	143	954,474	297,461	301,615	7,356	2.47%	299,524	2,064	0.69%	301,035	2,575	0.87%
age 30	65	102,254	252,644	259,086	7,330	2.90%	254,782	2,138	0.85%	256,330	2,625	1.04%

Individual Specific Wage Scale Method with base-up and periodical increase (yen)

			average per union (simple average)
			wage level before revision	1998 demand			1998 answer			1997 result
	no. of unions	no. of person		wage level	increase	rate	wage level	increase	rate	wage level	increase	rate
age 35	198	363,072	287,641	299,068	13,879	4.83%	296,288	8,647	3.01%	287,419	8,587	3.09%
age 30	181	556,939	253,471	268,114	13,353	5.27%	262,014	8,544	3.37%	255,906	8,815	3.57%

Average Increase Method (1) (yen)

		average per person (accumulated average)
no. of unions	no.of person	age	service years	average wage	1998 demand		1998 answer		1997 result
					amount	rate	amount	rate	amount	rate
967	1,940,145	38.4	17.0	306,716	13,371	4.36%	7,940	2.59%	8,559	2.89%

Average Increase Method (2) (yen)

		average per union (simple average)
no. of unions	no.of person	age	service years	average wage	1998 demand		1998 answer		1997 result
					amount	rate	amount	rate	amount	rate
967	1,940,145	37.5	15.1	275,799	13,348	4.84%	6,869	2.49%	7,506	2.75%

2. Result of Reduction of Working Hours

There are 263 unions which have reported on this struggle with RENGO registered, including unions those confirmed the accomplishment of 1,800 hours by the year of 2000 between employers side and unions under negotiation for the same condition. There are also 49 unions which have confirmed the introduction and implementation time or the reduced total time. Under the present survey, 396 unions had achieved the concrete improvement out of 2,611 unions under negotiations.

3. Result of Labor Agreement Struggle

151 unions among registered have demanded the adjustment to the Equal Opportunity Law. 225 unions have requested the protection of womankind and motherhood. At present, 40 unions received positive answer for the Equal Opportunity Law matter and 110 unions did for the protection of womankind and motherhood matter. Among registered unions, 9 unions have coordinated labor agreements newly on employment.

4. Result of Labor Standards Law Struggle

The result should be reported after the Diet deliberation, which discusses on the amendment of labor legislation after the briefing session at the House of Representatives on 21 April, 1998.

5. Result of Demand on Policy and Structure Struggle

The special tax cuts of 2 trillion yen, which was requested in the fiscal year of 1997, was put to the fiscal 1998 budget in February,1998. RENGO had requested and obtained its demands such as the raise of non-taxable limit of monthly commuting cost up to 100,000 yen, the tax cuts on education and the tax cuts on house purchasing at the approved budget for the fiscal year of 1998 at the Diet on 8 April, 1998. The Non Profit-making Organizations (NPO) Bill, which was a long pending issue, had passed.
At the meeting with the Prime Minister and Ministers on 13 April, RENGO requested the following; (1)improvement of the working conditions as wages for the civil servants, (2)implementation of economic policy as 6 trillion yen tax cuts to secure the stability of life and employment, (3)revision of the government proposed Labor Standards Law for fair labor standards, (4)enactment of the civil servants ethic law, (5)promotion of administration reform with people's participation and (6)revision of the Civil Code and the National Bar Examination.
For employment measures RENGO requested the government to implement the survey of banks' lend faltering situation, and the expansion of lend ceiling by the government affiliated financial institutions and others were incorporated into the General Economic Policy on 24 April. At the same time, RENGO made a joint proposal with the Japan Federation of Employers' Association (Nikkeiren) to the Labor Minister. In addition to this, RENGO incorporated the succession of 2 trillion yen tax cuts into the next year's budget and 100,000 yen increase in the house purchasing subtraction