A car drives past the entrance to the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant is seen in Georgetown, Jan 27, 2010. (PHOTO / AP)

TOKYO — Toyota Motor did not respond to the trade union's wage demands in the second round of pay talks held on Wednesday, Kyodo news reported.

For the past two years the world's biggest automaker had accepted the union's demands in full on the first meeting, which has long served as the pace-setter for Japan's spring labour-management wage offensive called "shunto".

Toyota's third labour-management meeting is scheduled for March 6, before a formal offer for 2024 pay hikes on March 13 along with other blue-chip Japanese companies

Toyota last week said it would continue negotiations with the union after the first round of talks.

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Instead of reaching an agreement on wages and bonuses, the company and union deepened their debate over workplace issues on Wednesday, Kyodo said.

In contrast, Honda Motor Japan's second-largest automaker, last week responded in full to union demands for a record rise in base pay and bonus payments.

Toyota's third labour-management meeting is scheduled for March 6, before a formal offer for 2024 pay hikes on March 13 along with other blue-chip Japanese companies.

Economists project hikes of about 3.9 percent on average from big firms, exceeding a 3.58 percent pay rise deal struck in 2023 that was the highest in three decades.

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This year's labour talks are being closely watched by the Bank of Japan, which sees sustainable wage and price hikes as a prerequisite to normalizing its ultra-loose monetary policy and ending negative interest rates.