Following trade unions in metal trades, those in public services, such as private railways, telecommunications, electric power, have received the management answers to their wage demands and so do those in chemical, food, transport, commerce, services and energies.

These answers are the result of unions' preserving efforts in the attack of suppressing wage hike by the management. However, the level of the answers are the lowest ever and unsatisfactory, taking into consideration the expectation of workers whose real and disposal incomes have decreased and the current stagnant economy.

Particularly, the concluding of zero base-up in telecommunications and electrical power industry should be an exceptional case and be received with the sense of crises. As there has been some changes in negotiation patterns, it is now time to examine and rebuild the Spring Struggle.

However, it would be too hasty to conclude that the Spring Struggle is no longer needed. We have been making effort to stabilize and improve workers' living standards by practicing a mechanism for socially distributing incomes and by establishing employment and social securities. The employment extension that has been won by this year's Struggle should be highly thought of. We will continue enhancing the Struggle and making, if necessary reforms.

The major cause of the suppressed wage hike is not the choice between wage increase or job security as pointed by mass media, but the management policy of enterprises shifting its focus to short-term cost cuts and shareholders' profits. If this shift continues, that is, the management put greater emphasis on shareholder than on workers, the long-standing industrial relations may be decayed. Such case should be avoided.

Employers who have criticized the uniformed wage increase are now trying to uniform the wage suppression. We should break through such management attitude in future negotiations. Unions that are about to have the peak, in particular those of small and medium enterprises, should make their every all efforts to narrow wage differentials and to will base-ups under the pressure of parent companies. RENGO make its every effort to support the negotiations.