NJ5 said:
Sony is facing more hardship than most companies though. Other than banks and car companies, I don't see anyone doing much worse than Sony.
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http://www.bernama.com/bernama/v5/newsindex.php?id=397095
Big Electronics Makers Eyeing Pay Freeze
TOKYO, March 18 (Bernama) -- Major Japanese makers of electronic and electrical equipment are planning pay freezes or effective pay cuts for the 2009 business year as they prepare their wage proposals Wednesday in response to union demands in this year's ''shunto'' annual wage talks, Japan's Kyodo news reported citing industry sources as saying Tuesday.
Toshiba Corp. plans to freeze employees' wages in the first six months of the year starting April 1 due to its deteriorating earnings under the current economic slump, they said.
Toshiba is the first major Japanese electrical machinery maker to be reported to be planning to freeze automatic pay hikes. The company expects to log a group net loss of 280 billion yen for fiscal 2008 ending this month, as its mainstay semiconductor division has been hard hit by the recession.
Sharp Corp. also said the same day it plans to temporarily postpone a regular wage hike. The Osaka-based consumer electronics maker and its union also agreed on annual bonuses equal to 4.1 months of wages, down sharply from 5.26 months of bonuses last year.
Japanese firms set a pay scale, or a table for basic wages, based on which workers� wages automatically increases every year by a certain amount according to seniority and length of service.
An employee on the scale is supposed to see an increase at the start of a new business year. But freezing a regular increase means cancellation of the expected wage rise for employees.
Hitachi Ltd. plans to increase the number of unpaid holidays in effectively cutting wages, while Sanyo Electric Co. is considering a freeze on automatic pay increases, the sources said.
Panasonic Corp., Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and other manufacturers are expected to turn down demands for wage hikes.
Automakers will also present their wage proposals to unions on Wednesday. Toyota Motor Corp. and its union have virtually agreed on bonuses equal to five months' wages plus 100,000 yen, which average 1.86 million yen, down 670,000 yen from the previous year.
While the labour union of Nissan Motor Co. is calling for an automatic wage increase of 6,000 yen per month, the management team has yet to decide whether to accept the demand. Unions at some other automakers may fail to secure regular wage increases.
Toyota, Nissan and other automakers, including Honda Motor Co. and Mazda Motor Corp., intend to reject demands for pay hikes, the sources said. Pay proposals by makers of electric equipment and automobiles on Wednesday will draw strong attention as they will set the pace for overall wage negotiations, which are getting tougher for labor unions in light of worsening corporate earnings amid the global economic slowdown.
The Japanese Electrical Electronic & Information Union, the umbrella organization of labour unions in the electrical equipment industry, maintains that the management side should agree at least on automatic wage hikes if they wish to avoid walkouts by workers. (RM1=26.83 yen)
