Labor unions of major Japanese electronics-makers kicked off this year’s shuntō spring wage negotiations in earnest Thursday, submitting pay hike demands to their respective firms’ management.

Unions at Hitachi, Mitsubishi Electric and other large companies requested a pay scale increase of ¥18,000 per month, bigger than last year’s record-high demand. Their peers at heavy machinery-makers have also submitted large pay scale demands.

Large corporations are expected to present their responses to the requests on March 18. The focus will be on whether the firms will raise wages at a scale that would lead to real wage growth amid the country’s persistent inflation.

Miyuki Hanzawa, head of the Hitachi union, submitted a written demand to management at the company headquarters in Tokyo on Thursday.

“The source of growth is investment in people,” Hitachi Vice President Susumu Takimoto told reporters. “We will positively consider (wage hikes) based on our business performance.”

Electronics-makers’ unions, which set a unified wage demand and negotiation dates, have sought pay scale increases for 13 consecutive years. In light of the firms’ different business structures, the unions have allowed wage agreements to vary by company since 2020 if they are above a certain pay level.

In last year’s shuntō, the unions sought a ¥17,000 pay scale increase, which was fully met by Hitachi, Fujitsu and NEC. Labor and management settled on a ¥15,000 increase at Mitsubishi Electric, a ¥13,000 hike at Panasonic Holdings and a ¥12,000 rise at Sharp.