PRESS CONFERENCE
Tomoko Yoshino, President of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (RENGO)
16:00-17:00 Tuesday, April 11, 2023
(The speech and Q & A will be in Japanese with English interpretation)
Tomoko Yoshino, who in 2021 became the first woman to serve as president of the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, Rengo, is fresh from another triumph, after major unions in March won their biggest pay hike since 1993, beating economists' expectations.
She hailed the result as potentially the first step toward building an economy where GDP, wages and prices all rise together. But the 3.8% hike is well short of the 5% she'd been pushing for, and with inflation also at its highest in decades, employees may find themselves no better off than before in real terms. Still worse off will be workers at smaller companies that employ most Japanese, and often aren't profitable enough to hike employees' pay.
Come and hear from Yoshino about what role Rengo can play in bringing about broader-based pay rises for the Japanese, as they fall further behind their counterparts in the US, Europe and South Korea. Will this year's rises lead to the upward trend successive governments have sought, or are they just a one-off? How can she help women facing one of the world's widest gender pay gaps?
How to attend:
Please register at front@fccj.or.jp with your name, the name of your media outlet, and FCCJ membership number. Due to space restrictions attendance will be limited. Doors open 15 minutes before the event. Please sign in, giving your name and contact details at the reception, and have your temperature taken before proceeding.
How to watch online: https://www.youtube.com/c/FCCJchannel/live
Livestreaming of the press events will be available and video of this event will be uploaded to our FCCJ YouTube channel.
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Members watching the event online can submit questions for the speakers in advance using this submission form.
TV crew: Please make a reservation at front@fccj.or.jp. Doors open for TV crews only at 30 minutes before the event.
Professional Activities Committee