Rengo's Central Committee had its 29th meeting on 17 November 1998 in Tokyo and the 1999 Spring Struggle policies aiming at improving the quality of living conditions and recovering the economy. It also confirmed the four pillars of the basic position, namely wage increase, shortening of working hours, fair work rules and policy demands.

With regard to wage demand, it was decided that Rengo should aim at a raise to the wage level with which workers could feel the improvement of living conditions. In the individual-specific wage system, the wage of a worker at the age of 35 years (a high school graduate serving for 17 years) should be 323,000 yen or more and there should not be a worker at the same age earning 250,000 yen or less.

Mr. Washio, the President of Rengo, remarked that the current economic situation was threatening the people's living and pointed that the economic package of 24 trillion yen introduced by the Government on 16 November was just to spend the money recklessly as in the past. He emphasized that what was the most necessary was employment security measures, which Rengo believed would ease the sense of insecurity among the people and then could stimulate consumption, introducing the Rengo-proposed plan of creating 1 million jobs.

As regards the 1999 Spring Struggle, he stated: "Those who are in a better situation should put their effort to wage increase and the shortening of working hours, which then will have no small effect on the wage increase for all. Through the individual-specific wage system, we should win at lease the result maintaining the present living conditions and overcome the difficulties we are faced with."