A statistical index of November 1998 shows that consumption expenditure of workers' families recorded the first increase of 2% in real terms for last 20 months. This is due to a growth in the sales of personal computers and travels, while both real and disposal incomes were lower than those of the previous year were. Both the government and private institutes analyse that the key for the future tendency of consumption is whether the income level will be improved or not.
On the other hand, an employment index shows that the unemployment rate worsened to 4.4% due to a drastic increase of non-voluntary dismissed workers. The available vacancy rate was 0.47, which also recorded the worst in the history because the increase of job seekers exceeded that of job offers although the job offers by enterprises made the first growth for the last 3 months. The Economic Planning Agency is worried about worsened employment situation may become worse because of the restructuring of enterprises and the increase in newly graduates who could not find a job. It is evident that the one million-job creation plan proposed by the tripartite Employment Conference should be promptly implemented.
Furthermore, it is also necessary to strengthen the effort to block unprincipled deregulation of labour market, while the Ministry of Labour is trying to have bills of liberalising the scope of dispatch workers and the activities of private employment agencies approved at the current session of the Diet.
Nikkeiren (Japan Federation of Employers Associations) introduced at its conference on 12 January the report of the Committee on Labour Questions. It rolls out an employers' logic, which sticks to the control over total labour cost as in the past and renounces the responsibility of human resource development by requesting individual workers to upgrade their own employability.
While it states "Japan as a dynamic, virtuous country" and "comeback of Japanese economy with a 3% economic growth," the report only requests the government to strengthen its economic policies and employment measures. It doesn't touch upon the role employers should play in expanding personal consumption and creating jobs in order to crawl out of the edge of deflation spiral.
Thus, it is necessary to arrange the environment at macro level in consulting with employers' organizations, including Nikkeiren, to support the spring struggle of industries and enterprises.
Negotiations: wages and working hours
In order to guarantee a success in negotiation processes, the spring struggle of RENGO as a whole should be synthesised in the view of strengthening the system of concentrated or simultaneous conclusion. At least a month should be secured for negotiation.
Shortening of working hours and working time arrangements
All the affiliates are tackling the shortening of working hours and the revision of working time arrangements. In order for each individual union to achieve 1800 hours as total annual working hours, RENGO should formulate precise guidance to arrange effective and synthesized actions by the affiliates.
Job creation and labour law revisions
The government's proposal of 1 trillion yen budget for one million job creation is not base on fact in terms of actualizing the creation of one million jobs. RENGO will request the government to have the 3rd meeting of the Employment Conference. The government should set more concrete goals, such as 500,000 jobs by the middle of the year, and thus to formulate the budget accordingly.
RENGO should strengthen its actions for the revision of the Dispatch Workers Law, bankruptcy-related laws, labour standards laws and the Safety and Health Law. In particular, RENGO's demands on the Dispatch Workers Law should be reflected in the debate of the Diet by collecting signatures in February and March.
Policy demands
The 145th session of the Diet starting on 19 January discusses various subjects significant to working people, such as the 1999 budget bill, economies, employment and social securities. Government-proposed bills, including the budget bills making light of the working people's life, includes a number of points that should be amended. These include tax-related bills attaching too much importance to the cut in corporate tax, public works based on the vertical division of ministries, the promotion of deregulating labour market, the revision for the worse of social securities.
RENGO should make its all efforts to put the pressure on the government and parties for the actualisation of its demands.
Actions against employers
RENGO will have a high-level meeting with Nikkeiren to exchange views on current economic and social situations on 20 January, where RENGO should insist the significance and role of the 1999 Spring Struggle. It will also have a meeting with the top leaders of small and medium-enterprises' organizations. Local RENGOs will organize labour-management meetings in the line of such meeting at the centre to facilitate the understanding about local minimum wages, local minimum working conditions.
Solidarity among the unorganised
To make an appeal of RENGO's ideas among the wider range of working people and the people in general, the RENGO White Paper should be widely advertised. And other public relations should be promoted, such as commercial messages of the 1999 Spring Struggle on the radio, the advertisement on wide screens on the street, telephone advisory services. Moreover, meetings and rallies will be organised to cheer up the moral within the organizations.
