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During an interview at his Kyoto headquarters this week, Nidec Corporation CEO Shigenobu Nagamori was quoted as saying, “Due to Japan’s strict labor laws, we cannot compete with enterprises in Korea and China.” He intends to lobby the government to relax labor regulations to allow for more flexible working conditions.

He additionally said that the government and the Bank of Japan need to weaken and maintain the yen to around a 90-100 yen to the dollar exchange rate in order for Japanese export companies to compete with booming exports from China and Korea.

As an example, Nagamori explained that his company’s factories in Niigata and Iwate receive orders late at night and early in the morning from overseas customers and need to have them shipped out on the next day. “There is more potential revenue overseas,” he says.

He adds that he would like the government to consider deregulation because “in order to be globally competitive, we need a broader interpretation of labor laws and more flexibility from labor organizations.”

As for the concerns of workers, he says, “If we continue as we are now, we simply cannot compete and it follows that businesses will close and workers will lose their jobs.” He urged workers to consider this in making up their minds.

The reaction from people online has been less than positive, however. Here are some reader responses from Hamster News Flash:

-What the hell!
-I’m sure his employees are thrilled to hear this.
-Even if things are tough economically right now, we absolutely can’t relax our labor regulations.
-Wouldn’t it be funny if all the workers died out and only the bosses were left?
-He wants to weaken regulations? The companies already have us at their mercy…

Looks like you’ve got to work on your hearts and minds approach, Mr. Nagamori.

Source: MSN Sankei News
Image: ritsumei.jp