News - 2002

October 2002
YMCA take strike action
The YMCA Branch held an all day strike at schools in Osaka on October 31. The YMCA is continuing to act in bad faith and will see further industrial action. The YMCA have asked for collective bargaining in early November.

School & College Branch Unemployment Insurance
The National Unemployment Insurance (Kouyou Hokken) is running a deficit and the government is attempting to increase contributions to pay for it. However, it has come to light that 123 members of the Association of Private Universities have been evading registering their employees on the scheme since it's introduction in 1975. The Universities are reportedly saving some 33,000,000,000 a month by evading their legal responsibility. Many private high schools where our members work are also not enrolling their employees on the scheme.

General Union members at Kwansei Gakuin have demanded to be enrolled on the scheme, but the university has so far refused, despite the visit of government inspectors to the college. In another case that received widespread publicity in the Japanese press, a member of a sister union of the GU filed a complaint against Kansai University (Kandai) with the Public Prosecutors, because of their refusal to enroll him on the scheme.

It now appears that the crisis in the insurance scheme has finally pushed the government into taking action. The issue has been discussed at Cabinet level, and finally after 27 years they will do more than gently urging the universities to join the system. The Universities argue that their employees, "Don't need to be on the scheme." because there have been no bankruptcies at private universities, and because tenured staff get substantial redundancy payments from the private universities Social Insurance. However, with falling school roles there is no guarantee against bankruptcies in the future. In addition non-tenured staff, who make up an increasing percentage in many institutions, are specifically excluded from receiving the severance payments. The General Union believes the law should be fully enforced in all institutions employing workers.

Come a long to the discussion of this and other issues in your area. The discussion will be followed by a social event.

General Union General Meeting
The General Union held its General Meeting on October 20 at L-Osaka in Temmabashi. A large turnout agreed to a number of resolutions aimed at strengthening the union. Members formed into their branches to discuss 'shunto' demands that will be presented to their employers for collective bargaining.

Another Berlitz Dismissal (Tennoji LC)
The high turnover at Berlitz LCs is not going to be helped by ISs dismissing teachers at the drop of a hat. A teacher contacted the union after being dismissed by their LC, re-instated by Human Resources and then dismissed again on the dubious grounds that they voluntarily resigned. The General Union is having to investigate yet another action being labelled as the 'Berlitz Method'.

Collective Bargaining at Berlitz
The General Union attended its first round of collective bargaining at Berlitz Regional Office on October 2. The first round of bargaining saw many union gains.

On Strike at the YMCA
The YMCA Branch members have held a series of one day strikes at schools throughout Osaka. The YMCA strikes are in protest of repeated Collective Agreement breaches and other unfair labour practices.

September 2002
Linguaphone - Major Dispute Begins
The Linguaphone branch continues to hit the company with strikes after it refused to renew the contract of the head teacher, who is also the branch vice-chair. The General Union filed a complaint against the company at Osaka Labour Commission. Linguaphone is desperately struggling to maintain control, without realising that control is slipping from its grasp.

ETI loses claim over quitting
Some people just can't stand losing. After a teacher left the ELI (Emmy's Language Institute) they were sued for quitting. When the case came to court, the judge turned down the claim for damages over the quitting and the union won an important victory. We hope that the ELI will accept from now on, as many other schools have had to, that they are not immune from Japanese Labour Laws, and cannot somehow hope to win by attacking the union and its members.

July 2002
Berlitz Health and Safety
A disturbing health-related incident recently occurred at a Kanto branch of Berlitz Language schools. In April and early May the exterior of the building was being repainted. A special coating was being applied to the roof deck outside the school's windows. These windows are the source of most of the school's ventilation and the air conditioning unit is on the deck outside too. After teachers began to lose nervous control and became dizzy, they advised the staff to cancel all further lessons. A teacher from another branch was called in to take over and one of the affected teachers was pressured into resuming the children's lessons. After the next lesson, the teacher felt even worse than before. The school supervisor downplayed the situation and never cancelled any of the children's lessons. The next day, the teachers sought medical advise and were given doctor's notes attesting to the fact they were exposed to chemical fumes. The school was made aware of this but still allowed children's lessons to proceed while a second coating was being applied. This matter is being addressed by BEGUNTO, the Berlitz teacher's union.

A World of Difference
Union members at World Academy (a.k.a ZIA) declared a new union branch in June to deal with a host of concerns including, overtime pay, no unemployment insurance coverage, and a generally chaotic work atmosphere. We are very pleased to a fantastic first collective agreement which includes an agreement on overtime pay, enrollment in the unemployment protection fund, and job and working conditions security clauses.