Toyota to fully accept union's bonus request

Toyota Motor Corp. will fully accept its labor union's demand for average annual bonuses of 2.53 million yen for its workers, reflecting the automaker's positive earnings levels in fiscal 2007, sources said.

The decision by the auto-industry leader will likely set the tone for large companies in the shunto annual labor-management negotiations.

The Toyota Motor Workers' Union, which organizes about 60,000 workers, made the second-highest bonus request ever at the shunto talks Wednesday.

The union also demanded an average hike of 1,500 yen in the basic monthly wage in addition to a regular pay raise of 6,900 yen on average.

With its consolidated net profit in fiscal 2007 likely to reach 1.7 trillion yen, Toyota management plans to fully comply with the bonus request in its response to the union slated on March 12, sources said. It will be the ninth consecutive shunto for the company to agree fully with labor requests for bonuses.

But the Toyota management does not plan to fully agree with the union's demand for the monthly wage hike. The focus of Toyota's shunto this year will thus be on how much will be added to a 1,000-yen hike, the amount that the workers won last year.

Toyota has a policy of reflecting corporate earnings in worker bonuses, so the union's demand for the bonus was considered an "adequate request calculated in accordance with established rules," a Toyota executive said.

On Wednesday, other members of the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers' Unions started submitting their shunto requests.

The Nissan Motor Co. union, with 30,000 workers, requested an average monthly payment hike of 7,000 yen, the same amount requested last year, and annual bonuses worth 6.1 months of salary, down 0.2 month from last year's request.

The Honda Motor Co. union, with 40,000 workers, is seeking an average hike of 1,000 yen in basic monthly wage, the same amount requested last year, and bonuses worth 6.6 months of salary.

Among members of the Japanese Electrical Electronic and Information Union, the unions of Hitachi Ltd. and Sanyo Electric Co. submitted their requests Wednesday.(IHT/Asahi: February 14,2008)