Japan auto union group looks beyond inflation-linked pay hikes for 2027 talks

By Makiko Yamazaki and Kentaro Sugiyama

TOKYO, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Japan's top automobile industry union group is looking to move beyond wage demands aimed merely at keeping pace with inflation in next year's labour talks, as stronger pay growth is needed to help compete with the challenge from China, its chief said.

"We are discussing raising the bar compared with previous years" for the 2027 spring wage talks, Akihiro Kaneko, president of the Confederation of Japan Automobile Workers' Unions (JAW), told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

After securing the strongest wage gains in decades in recent years, JAW believes annual pay hikes focused primarily on protecting workers from rising living costs are no longer sufficient to reverse decades of wage stagnation, Kaneko said.