Japan's annual spring wage negotiations seem to be going in favor of workers.
Many major companies on Wednesday agreed to union demands for pay hikes this year.



Toyota Motor gave its employees exactly what they asked for regarding pay and bonuses for the fifth straight year. The highest requested monthly hike was 24,450 yen, or about 165 dollars.



Nissan Motor staff requested an average monthly pay raise of roughly 120 dollars, including regular increases. Management countered with an offer of about 110 dollars.



Electronics leaders Hitachi and NEC met union demands to raise monthly base pay by around 115 dollars.
Major machinery makers Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and IHI also met union requests for the third straight year. Their monthly base pay will be raised by about 100 dollars.



Nippon Steel employees got a monthly base pay increase of about 80 dollars, although they requested roughly 100 dollars.



Major beverage maker Suntory Holdings settled with an average wage hike of about 7 percent. This includes a monthly base pay raise of around 80 dollars.



And Sapporo Breweries agreed with its union to boost wages by 6.4 percent, including increasing base pay by about 100 dollars.



Many leading firms settled with high-level hikes, while the country's largest labor union organization, Rengo, had set a target of 5 percent or more.



Wage talks for small and midsize companies will go into full swing soon.



It remains to be seen whether the trend of wage hikes will spread to smaller firms and bring them in line with major corporations.