Japan's top business lobby calls for review of uniform base pay rise system.

Japan's most powerful business lobby on Tuesday called for a review of the Japanese practice that sees industrywise labor unions demand a uniformed raise in base pay, saying the performances of individual companies and employees should be reflected.

"There is a big gap in the business environment and profitability among companies in the same industry so collectively and uniformly demanding wage increases no longer fits the reality," Hiroaki Nakanishi, chairman of the lobby known as Keidanren, told a forum in Tokyo before the annual labor-management wage negotiations kick off.

At the event attended by representatives of labor unions and company officials in charge of personnel management, Nakanishi also sought a review of the country's long-held practices, including automatic wage increases on the basis of...