Japanese Workers Share In Country’s Economic Boom

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32394, 5 September 1970, Page 5

Japanese Workers Share In Country’s Economic Boom

(By

KEN COATES)

Once little more than wage slaves on a pittance, Japanese workers are today getting a bigger share of the rich rewards of the economic boom rapidly making Japan a super power.

To find out just what difference his country’s increasing affluence is making to everyday life, I talked to 39-year-old Benji Fujioka, a crane operator.

He receives, with bonuses, the equivalent of SUSIO4 a week, and many fringe benefits besides. And what’s more, he says he is able to save from 10 per cent to 15 per cent of his income.

Benji works for Nippon Kokan, one of the country’s Big Two steel makers, and is one of 20,800 employees. Combining steel, shipbuilding, steel fabrication and construction enterprises, the company’s giant Keihin works are situated in the TokyoYokohama industrial area. • It is to this smog-filled complex that Benji goes every day, and sometimes at night, to work. He is highly regarded by his company for which he has worked over 20 years. He has earned above-average status and as well as driving a big overhead crane in a slabbing mill, he is an assistant foreman. This means responsibility for preparing work rosters and a certain amount of supervision. And for this Benji is paid extra. Life-Time Job It is unlikely he will ever change his job, or get fired. Like most Japanese company employees, he will stay with one employer for life. And throughout this life, the company will be very much a fattier figure. The company looks after him, and in return, of course, receives his unswerving loyalty. Nippon Kokan has not had a strike since 1959, and company officials are naturally anxious to avoid any industrial trouble. The company is committed to an expansion programme that involves another steel works at Fukuyama, in Hiroshima Prefecture. The ultimate aim is to build a mammath mill with an annual crude steel capacity of 10 million tons one of the largest and most modern mills in the world. How does the company go about gaining the loyalty of its workers? The average wage in the company is SUS2BO a month, or SUS7O a week. In addition and this is common practice for Japanese companies a bonus is paid every six months. The average bonus is a total of SUS6S3. Most workers are rostered to work for six days with one day off, and then another five days, with two days off. Fringe Benefits A worker who has . just started with the company receives 16 days’ annual holiday; an employee who has been working for two years gets 18 days, and so on. Holidays are taken, several days at a time, during the year. The company has a hospital, gymnasium and seaside and mountain accommodation for employees. Generally, workers retire at 55, but if the company considers their services are too valuable to lose at this age, they may keep them on until 60 years of age. There is no subsidised superannuation scheme, but for a worker with 30 years’ service or more, a lump sum of more than SUSII.OOO is paid. The level of personal savings in Japan is high. One reason is because people feel they must save for their old age, and also because the twice-yearly bonus system makes it easy to put money aside for a rainy day. Like most manufacturing enterprises in Japan, the Keihin works of Nippon Kokan pours out production night and day. Workers are on shifts which vary from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. (with a 45minute break); from 3 p.m. until 9.30 p.m. (with a 30minute break); or from 9.30 until 7 a.m. (with one hour’s break).

The average number of hours worked a week is 39. Last year, there was a 15 per cent wage increase for all workers, according to the 'company. Another fringe benefit provided is accommodation. Most single men live in company dormitories for which they pay less then 1000 yen, or around SUS 3 a month. Company apartments are available for married employees, but only 20 per cent of workers in this category get the benefit of a unit for which they pay only around SUS 6 a month. Normally, they would pay about $55 a month for this accommodation. Employees in the upper echelons tend to get company apartments, although officially the company says it recommends employees in higher positions to get their own houses. The average length of employees’ service in this company, which has expanded rapidly, is 17 years, and the average age of employees is 34. At present there is sufficient labour for highly automated control systems, but the company expects some difficulty in meeting expansion demands. Already this year, it has taken on 400 new employees. One advantage of adopting such a paternalistic policy towards employees is that the company minimises the chance of serious labour troubles. There is a union, but it consists solely of company employees, and they negotiate directly with the company management Regular increases in wages have been granted over the last five years. A group incentive scheme also operates, and in addition to the basic wage, extra payment is made, depending on the productivity of a particular group of workers. All share the benefit iff higher output and efficiency. “Everyone feels responsible for improving the job and finding new techniques,” says Benji. z “I think this is good, be-

cause it makes us proud of what we achieve.” 20-Mile Trip Benji’s home is about 20 miles from the acrid industrial smog of the steelworks. And his company pays most of the bus and train fares necessary to get to and from work. This actually amounts to an indirect company subsidy of SUS7B a month. His wage of SUSIO4 weekly, including bonuses, is higher than the company average, with bonuses of SUS7O weekly. His wife, Shizoko, says food 14 the household’s major cost, and he hands over his pay packet to her management every pay-day. Electricity, gas and water cost more than SUS 22 a month, and loan repayments on his house, SUS2B. He bought the land for his house from the local government authority. Heating in winter is by means of a kerosene heater in every room, and the total cost is around SUS 6 monthly. “I have no car because I fear an accident,” says Benji. With the chaotic and everincreasing traffic on Tokyo’s overcrowded roads, this fear is understandable. But like all suburbanites who have a good income, he says it would be nice to own a new car. Benji’s house is well above average in size. It has six rooms small by Western standards but this is three more than most families have. His parents live with the family which consists of Benji, his wife and two daughters, Hiroko, 14 and Yumiko, 6.

The eldest daughter is at junior high school, and the youngest at kindergarten. Home Appliances The Fujiokas have colour television, refrigerator, washing machine and other household appliances, as well as a flush toilet Once or twice a month, says Benji, he likes to drink at one of his favourite bars with his friends: he never takes his wife on such outings—it's not done in Japan. As Japanese husbands are fond of saying: the characteristic of Japanese women is to be always waiting at home. Just how long this will last with increasing Westernisation and independence of women is difficult to say. At home, Benji likes to watch TV. The news, documentaries and samurai (old time warrior) serials are his favourite programmes. And although there are seven or eight channels from which to choose, there are no arguments about which programme should be chosen in the Fujioka household. Until 7 p.m., the TV set is available for the children and the rest of the family. After that time, Benji has priority, because as in all Japanese families, the husband is head of the house. I asked him what he hopes for his daughters: “I hope they will become good wives,” he answered. And would their parents try to arrange marriages? “If they eventually find a husband themselves, that is all right,” he replied obliquely. Like most Japanese, Benji appreciates beauty, although it is hard to find in the jumble of buildings that is the city of Tokyo, or the belching industrial complex where he works. Miniature Garden But in a tiny enclosed garden at his home, he has a fine collection of miniature trees in pots, called bonsai. Some of these are many years old, yet their height is only a foot or so, and

branches and trunks are perfectly proportioned. The garden was also ablaze with azaleas.

Living near the sea also has advantages for Benji—he can indulge in his favourite sport-fishing. But he too is becoming worried about the mounting pollution which means fewer fish and Benji feels glad he was too young to fight in the Second World War—he was 15 at the war’s end/ But he says with regret that he had only eight years of the old style education, and then went to work for the steel company, first laying bricks for blast furnaces.

He speaks no English, but his eldest daughter, Hiroko, is practising English conversation, and is eager to learn. She is also artistic, and this year won a prize at her school for oil painting. Visitors Rare A visit to a Japanese home for a foreigner is still a rarity in Japan. But when it happens it implies tremendous hospitality. Benji’s wife served fried chicken which was superb. The effect of this, together with excellent Japanese beer and other food, even provoked some envy of a way of life that, while it has its hardships, is approaching the standards of life in advanced European countries. And then I remembered riding with Benji in the cramped cabin of the travelling crane, above the searing heat of red-hot steel. What did he think of his job?

“When 1 was young, I found it boring, but not now,” he says. “I feel responsible to the group and we try to improve our work all the time.

“This also helps me avoid making mistakes, and dropping the load from the crane in the wrong place.” But in spite of an air cooler and special glass for the cab windows, it’s a hot, demanding job by any standards. There’s nothing Benji and his fellow workers enjoy quite so much after a hard day’s work as a soak in the company’s swimming - pool sized bath—and then an icecold beer at a favourite bar. Life then, as at most times, is good for Benji.