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Toyota agrees to biggest wage hike in 25 years, paves way for BOJ shift
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Workers install the fuel cell power system in a Toyota Mirai at a Toyota Motor Corp. factory in Toyota in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, Apriil 11, 2019. Picture taken on April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Joe White/File Photo
By Tetsushi Kajimoto and Anton Bridge
TOKYO (Reuters) -Toyota Motor agreed to give factory workers their biggest pay increase in 25 years on Wednesday, heightening expectations that bumper pay raises will give the central bank leeway to make a key policy shift next week.
Toyota (NYSE:), Panasonic (OTC:), Nippon Steel and Nissan (OTC:) were among some of Japan Inc’s biggest names that agreed to fully meet union demands for pay hikes at annual wage negotiations that wrap on Wednesday.
The talks, long a defining feature of the usually collaborative relationship between Japanese management and labour, are being closely watched this year as the pay increases are expected to help clear the way for the central bank to end its years-long policy of negative interest rates as early as next week.
Toyota, the world’s biggest carmaker and traditionally a bellwether of the annual talks, said it agreed to the demands of monthly pay increases of as much as 28,440 yen ($193) and record bonus payments. Keeping with past practice, the company did not provide a percentage figure for the salary rise.
“We’re seeing strong momentum for wage hikes,” Japan’s top government spokesperson and chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, told reporters. “It’s important that the strong wage hike momentum will spread to small and mid-sized firms.”
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has made putting an end to the years of meagre wage growth a top priority to jumpstart feeble consumer spending. Japan’s wage increases have kept well behind the average for the OECD grouping of rich countries.
The Bank of Japan is also closely watching the results as a key data point in deciding when to end negative rates, in place since 2016.
The bank, which has stuck with massive stimulus and ultra-low rates for years longer than other developed countries in an attempt to revive a moribund economy, is set to hold its next policy setting meeting on March 18-19.
“The outcome of this year’s annual wage negotiation is critical” in deciding the timing of an exit from massive stimulus, governor Kazuo Ueda told parliament on Wednesday.
Workers at major firms have asked for annual increases of 5.85%, according to Japan’s biggest trade union grouping, Rengo, which if agreed upon would breach the 5% level for the first time in 31 years.
Hisashi Yamada, a senior economist at Japan Research Institute and an expert on labour issues, estimated overall increases of 4.2% to 4.3% based on the “quite strong” responses so far, and possibly more than 5% for top firms.
He attributed the rises to the trend of higher wages globally, domestic labour shortages and inflation.
“Still, the sustainability of such strong pay raises and whether the trend of wage hikes will spread to small and medium-sized companies going forward is uncertain,” Yamada said.
TRICKLE-DOWN EFFECT
In a further positive sign, the Japanese Association of Metal, Machinery and Manufacturing Workers (JAM), a union representing workers at small manufacturers, said the pay rises secured for members exceeded expectations and there was a change in workers’ mindset.
“The Japanese are finally starting to realise that the gap between wages inside and outside the country is widening significantly,” JAM Chairman Katahiro Yasukochi told reporters.
Smaller firms employ seven out of 10 workers in Japan but have struggled to offer sizeable pay hikes because they have less leverage to pass on costs to clients.
Akihiro Kaneko, chair of the Japan Council of Metalworkers’ Unions, echoed Yasukochi’s sentiment, saying he was hopeful that this year’s results could lead to a virtuous cycle of higher wages and inflation.
Top companies such as Toyota are under pressure from the government to facilitate wage hikes downstream so that real wages, which are adjusted for inflation, can reverse a 22-month streak of consecutive falls.
“We do hope that our results could spread to all of our suppliers,” Toyota’s chief human resources officer, Takanori Azuma, told reporters.
“We need to continue asking tier-one suppliers to pass that down to tier-two suppliers and so on,” he said, while adding that ultimately, wage decisions were up to each individual company.
By Maggie Fick and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Members of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team are laying the groundwork for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization on the first day of his second term, according to a health law expert familiar with the discussions.
“I have it on good authority that he plans to withdraw, probably on Day One or very early in his administration,” said Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at Georgetown University in Washington and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health (NS:) Law.
The Financial Times was first to report on the plans, citing two experts. The second expert, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, was not immediately available for comment.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The plan, which aligns with Trump’s longstanding criticism of the U.N. health agency, would mark a dramatic shift in U.S. global health policy and further isolate Washington from international efforts to battle pandemics.
Trump has nominated several critics of the organization to top public health positions, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who is up for the post of secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees all major U.S. health agencies including the CDC and FDA.
Trump initiated the year-long withdrawal process from the WHO in 2020 but six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, reversed the decision.
Trump has argued that the agency failed to hold China accountable for the early spread of COVID-19. He has repeatedly called the WHO a puppet of Beijing and vowed to redirect U.S. contributions to domestic health initiatives.
A WHO spokesperson declined to directly comment but referred Reuters to comments by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing on Dec. 10 in which he was asked whether he was concerned that the Trump administration would withdraw from the organization.
Tedros said at the time that the WHO needed to give the U.S. time and space for the transition. He also voiced confidence that states could finalize a pandemic agreement by May 2025.
Critics warn that a U.S. withdrawal could undermine global disease surveillance and emergency response systems.
“The U.S. would lose influence and clout in global health and China would fill the vacuum. I can’t imagine a world without a robust WHO. But U.S. withdrawal would severely weaken the agency,” Gostin said.
U.Today – MicroStrategy has made headlines again by purchasing 5,262 BTC for approximately $561 million at an average price of $106,662 per BTC. The company now holds a staggering 444,262 BTC, accumulated at a total cost of approximately $27.7 billion, with an average purchase price of $62,257 per BTC.
Despite impressive returns of 47.4% since the beginning of the quarter and 73.7% since the beginning of the year, skepticism about the company’s strategy is growing.
It is believed that to sustain its purchases, MicroStrategy raises capital through methods such as issuing convertible and corporate bonds, securing credit lines and selling shares.
This cycle appears to operate as follows: shares are sold to acquire the cryptocurrency, and the rising price per BTC increases asset value, enabling further loans, which are then reinvested in more purchases.
Some observers warn that a significant decline in Bitcoin’s price or MicroStrategy’s stock could trigger a cascade effect. A sharp fall in MSTR shares would weaken the collateral backing its loans, potentially leading to forced asset sales, including BTC.
This scenario could exert downward pressure on the broader cryptocurrency market, as the company holds 2.2% of the global Bitcoin supply now.
Thus, while some view Michael Saylor’s approach as a bold bid to cement the cryptocurrency’s role in the financial system, others see it as unsustainable. History offers a cautionary note: in 2000, MSTR shares surged to $333 before plummeting 99%, a collapse that took 24 years to recover from.
National homebuilder ranked No. 12 on inaugural list ranking companies based on trust
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — With a longstanding reputation for trust, national homebuilder and land developer Taylor Morrison (NYSE:) (NYSE: ™HC) has been recognized by Forbes on their inaugural list of the Most Trusted Companies in America. The homebuilder ranked No. 12 out of 300 companies across all industries.
“There are few things more powerful than trust and it’s something we strive to earn amongst all company stakeholders, from our customers to our team members, our shareholders, and our local communities,” said Taylor Morrison Chairman and CEO Sheryl Palmer. “To be included on this esteemed list in its inaugural year is especially meaningful and these awards are important reminders of the relationships we’re building across all aspects of our business.”
Fueled by hundreds of millions of data points, the Most Trusted Companies in America list combines data on a wide range of factors across four categories: employee trust, customer trust, investor trust and media sentiment. The ranking was created in partnership with research companies HundredX, Signal AI and Glassdoor.
Taylor Morrison also earned the No. 67 spot on Forbes’ inaugural America’s Best Companies list. The ranking is Forbes’ most comprehensive company ranking to date and factored in ratings for financial performance, customer and employee satisfaction, cybersecurity, sustainability, companies’ remote work policies, media coverage and more. Forbes’ America’s Best Companies list assessed more than 60 metrics across 11 primary categories to identify which organizations excel across the board. Of the more than 2,000 U.S.-based publicly traded companies that were eligible, only 300 qualified for each list.
In addition to being named among the Most Trusted and Best Companies in America by Forbes, Taylor Morrison holds several additional accolades including being named on Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies and America’s Greenest Companies lists, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Companies to Work For list, the American Opportunity (SO:) Index, America’s Most Trusted ® Home Builder for nine years, Hearthstone’s 2021 BUILDER Humanitarian Award, and inclusion on the Fortune 500 list since 2021.
About Taylor Morrison
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Taylor Morrison is one of the nation’s leading homebuilders and developers. We serve a wide array of consumers from coast to coast, including first-time, move-up, luxury and resort lifestyle homebuyers and renters under our family of brands”including Taylor Morrison, Esplanade and Yardly. From 2016-2024, Taylor Morrison has been recognized as America’s Most Trusted ® Builder by Lifestory Research. Our long-standing commitment to sustainable operations is highlighted in our annual Sustainability and Belonging Report.
For more information about Taylor Morrison, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.
CONTACT:
media@taylormorrison.com
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