Some Japan automakers fully meet wage hike demands

Mazda Motor Corp. informed its labour union on Wednesday (February 25) of its decision to offer pay-scale and regular increases of 19,000 yen in total a month.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. agreed the same day to raise monthly wages by 18,000 yen.

Also on Wednesday, Yamaha Motor Co., a major motorcycle maker, accepted the labour side's demand for a 19,400-yen monthly salary hike.

Mazda, Mitsubishi Motors and Yamaha Motor are set to offer annual bonuses equivalent to 5.1 months' pay, 5.0 months' pay and 5.3 months' pay, respectively.

The three companies gave their responses to the labour side far ahead of March 18, when many major Japanese firms are slated to present their wage plans in the 2026 shunto negotiations, as they apparently aimed to maintain the pay hike momentum amid the current tough business environment, partly resulting from the high tariff policy of US President Donald Trump's administration.

Mazda fully accepted a wage hike demand for the fifth straight year, offering the biggest monthly pay hike since the company adopted the current personnel system in 2003.

Hit hard by the US tariff measures, the automaker plunged into the red on the consolidated bottom line in April-December 2025.

Mazda Chief Human Resource Officer Tomiko Takeuchi said that the increase in the company's labour costs will be large as it fully met the union demand.

Still, she said, "We need to demonstrate our determination for the future and trust in our employees."

Yamaha Motor also accepted a union demand for a one-day increase in annual days off, the first increase since 1993.

With the automobile industry believed to have fewer annual days off than other sectors, the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers' Unions, of which Yamaha Motor's labour union is a member, is putting efforts into increasing holidays.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]