Japan's IHI to Meet Pay Hike Demand for 1st Time in 49 Yrs

Tokyo, March 9 (Jiji Press)--Japanese heavy machinery maker IHI Corp. <7013> plans to fully meet a pay hike demand from the labor union for the first time in 49 years, officials said Thursday.

IHI informed the labor side of the intent the same day. The labor side seeks a monthly pay scale hike of 14,000 yen and annual bonuses equivalent to 5.9 months' salaries in this year's "shunto" wage talks with the management.

The requested amount represents a total pay increase of 6 pct including regular raises, the officials said.

In shunto talks, many companies are set to announce their response to pay increase demands from labor unions Wednesday.

Prior to that, major automakers and some other companies have already announced their decisions to meet labor demands in full.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]