Gaba Corporation Meets General Union's Demands - Client Blocking Procedure Published
The General Union has been raising the issue of harassment of instructors by clients with Gaba since 2013, and this has not been an easy process.
Instructors reported a number of cases of sexual harassment by clients, and how they were dealt with poorly by Gaba management.
There was a desire to ignore harassment and to encourage instructors to put up with it.
As recent news stories have shown, this is unfortunately common in many organizations all around the world - particularly when there is money to be made.
Gaba And Coco Juku To Merge
Earlier this month, the Nikkei newspaper ran an article about an upcoming merger between Gaba and Coco Juku. These are both English conversation schools owned by Nichii Gakkan. Gaba was purchased by Nichii Gakkan in 2011, and Coco Juku was founded in 2012. Although both currently teach English to children and adults alike, Coco Juku has a focus on group lessons.
According to the Nikkei article, from next year, the companies will shift their focus: Gaba will focus on teaching lessons to adults, while Coco Juku will focus on lessons for children.
It remains to be seen what this will mean for instructors at either of the conversation schools.
Sexual Harassment From Clients At Gaba Corporation
Sexual harassment from Gaba clients is an issue that the General Union has been concerned about for years now. We have raised it with Gaba both in negotiations and correspondence.
The problem has even received notice in the press, with several articles appearing in the Japan Times.
A major problem is that Gaba does not provide clear training for instructors on this issue.
Improvements For Hourly-Paid Employees At The British Council
General Union members working at the British Council will soon start seeing big improvements to their working conditions after a new collective agreement was recently signed between the union and the organisation.
Hourly-paid employees of the British Council have to deal with numerous labor problems including late contracts, a lack of notice for non-renewal of contracts, and contract periods that are unreasonably short.
Berlitz Update (2017/09/15): Progress In Talks
Just recently, we let you know that our Berlitz Branch had taken a strike vote.
The intention was never to strike immediately, but to show the company the seriousness of our intent to protect the incomes of Pay Per Lesson teachers, as some instructors have experienced losses of over 100,000 yen per month.
The union has demanded that steps be taken to protect and guarantee the salaries of instructors.
Emergency Drills At Gaba
Over recent years, the General Union has repeatedly raised the issue of holding emergency drills with Gaba.
In July, 2017, the union asked the company when it would conduct drills at all of the Learning Studios in the company.
However, as of the time of writing, the Akasaka, Akabane, Omotesando, Shinbashi-Shiodome, Seijo, Futakotamagawa and Kashiwa Learning Studios had not yet had drills, whereas some other Learning Studios have had several drills.
The company replied that it intended to hold drills at all studios.
Berlitz Members Vote Yes In Strike Vote
With an overwhelming majority, a vote to enter dispute mode with Berlitz has carried this last week of August. Strikes, or other dispute acts, will not happen immediately. We will continue to negotiate with Berlitz about salary guarantees and job security for "Per Lesson" instructors in good faith. While progress is still being made action of any kind is on hold.
Taking the decision to strike or enter a dispute is never taken lightly. We ask other union members to support the Berlitz members.
Berlitz Instructors Ready To Blow! Members Demanding Strike Vote!
Berlitz Japan is the only major language school in Japan which employs (what it calls) "Paid Per Lesson Instructors" (PL).
Unlike normal part-time workers who have set working hours (just reduced from a full-time contract), these "PL" instructors have no set working hours and are informed the night before about the next day’s schedule.
The union has complained to Berlitz that these contracts are not allowed under the Labour Standards Law because there are no set hours.
Our complaints are not based on some kind of technical legal issues; they are concretely based upon the problems that you are about to read about.
GABA - New System Training
In the lead-up to the new system in July, Gaba staff asked instructors to sign a "letter of understanding" about training for the new computer system. It was not clear whether this was mandatory or not.
As the company had previously tried to force instructors to do unpaid training, the General Union asked the company to clarify this. Gaba stated that signing the letter of understanding was not mandatory, nor was doing the training.
Unions Are Not "Cheap Lawyers For Hire"
In Japan, unions have many unique rights compared to many of the countries where our members come from. One of those rights is the power to demand collective bargaining regardless of the number of members we have at a particular place of work.
That's right: even with just one member, an employer cannot not refuse negotiations with a labour union.
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