TOKYO -- Amid significant salary increases for full-time employees in this year's spring labor negotiations, wage hikes for nonregular workers, who make up 37% of the overall workforce in Japan, have seen little progress. At major conveyor-belt sushi chain Sushiro, part-timers received no raises, while regular employees got a 6% pay increase on average. In response, the part-timers consequently went on strike.

According to survey results released in May by the executive committee of irregular workers' spring offensive, only about 30% of nonregular employees were informed of a wage increase this spring.

"As a whole, there are fewer responses to wage hike requests compared to last year. I wonder where these cases are of nonregular workers receiving raises higher than full-timers," said a somber Tetsuya Obayashi, a negotiation executive committee member and the chairperson of the Tokyo Youth Union.

Part-timers stage strike

Food & Life Companies Ltd., based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture and operator of the conveyor-belt sushi chain Sushiro, raised the wages of full-time employees across its four group companies by an average of 6% from October 2024. The company cited securing talented personnel and boosting employee motivation among other purposes.

However, wages for nonregular employees did not increase. The labor union consisting of Sushiro's part-time workers demanded pay hikes in this year's spring negotiations, but many branches have yet to receive a response. At the Miyazaki-tsunehisa branch in Miyazaki, workers went on strike on March 16 and May 3, demanding an increase in the base hourly wage from 1,000 yen (about $7) to 1,200 yen (around $8.40). At least 20 workers at the branch joined the May strike. On the day of the strike, the company continued operations by dispatching full-time workers from other branches across southwestern Japan's Kyushu region.

According to the union, members' hourly wages are 50 to 100 yen (roughly 35 to 70 cents) lower than those of competitors and even below the pay at other Sushiro locations in the city of Miyazaki. Some part-timers have worked for over 10 years, with only a 20-yen increase in their hourly wage during that time. In response to the union's claim that nonregular workers "can't make ends meet due to rising prices," the company stated before the May strike that "wage increases will be implemented at some point," but did not specify the amount or timing.

Despite the financial strain caused by no pay while attending the strike, Hokuto Yoshida, head of the Tokyo Youth Union's conveyor-belt sushi division, said, "Even so, the frustration over wages not reflecting the work outweighs the hardship."

The public relations department of Food & Life Companies told the Mainichi Shimbun, "We are currently in collective bargaining and are responding sincerely."

Lower wage increase rates compared to full-timers

According to a May interim report by Rengo, formally known as the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, the average wage hike rate for full-time employees was 5.32%. In contrast, a May survey by the executive committee of irregular workers' spring offensive showed that the raise rate for part-timers was in the 4% range. Of the 144 companies and local governments where labor unions submitted wage increase demands for nonregular workers, only 78 had responded, or about 54% -- down 1-percentage point from the previous year. In 66 cases, negotiations were still ongoing after requests were rejected or no response was given.

Obayashi expressed frustration, saying, "Wage increases for nonregular workers are being put on the back burner."

(Japanese original by Satoshi Tokairin, Tokyo City News Department)