Toyota Asking Workers to Take Pay Cut

Toyota Motor Corp. reportedly is asking its Japanese workers to take a cut in pay, just days after it announced it would idle all 12 of domestic plants for 11 days.

The Associated Press says the size of the wage cut still is being negotiated, but by law companies in Japan must provide at least 60% of an employee’s pay during a work stoppage.

The auto maker last month said it would eliminate annual bonuses for directors, as a result of the downturn in the global automotive markets.

Toyota plans to eliminate 3,000 of its temporary workforce in Japan at the end of March, but so far none of the auto maker’s 70,000 full-time employees have lost their jobs.

On Tuesday, Toyota announced it would halt production at plants in Japan for 11 days in February and March. The unprecedented move comes after the auto maker last month said its Japanese facilities would be shuttered for three days in January.

The last time Toyota stopped production in its home market was for one day in August 1993, following a sharp rise in the yen, the AP says.