We encourage all teachers to join the union to work together in improving both working conditions and the quality of education. The focus of this campaign is as follows:
The General Union already has members at all the large schools in Osaka: NOVA, ECC, GEOS, TOZA, the YMCA, Berlitz and the Higashi Osaka Board of Education. We have won concessions from these companies, ranging from enforcement of the Labor Standards Law to combating unfair dismissals. Where we are organized we have been able to halt declining working conditions.
Whether you are here long-term or short-term, we all have a responsibility and an interest in seeing that the language industry in Japan deals fairly with both students and teachers. Without teachers being organized in an industry-wide union, we are limited in our abilities to win the guarantees that we seek. Only by joining the union can you guarantee that both you and your students are treated fairly and with respect.
On the other hand, workers on limited term contracts are sometimes dismissed at the end of their contracts without any reason being provided. While the courts have ruled that workers with multiple renewals of limited term contracts are in actuality on indefinite term contracts (and thus subject to stricter standards with regard to dismissals), the reality is that anyone on a limited term contract could find themselves unemployed at the end of their contract.
By giving us better employment security, indefinite term contracts will allow teachers to deal more directly with any problems we see in both working conditions and the quality of education in our workplaces, without fear of non-renewal. Employers use non-renewal as a weapon to intimidate employees from voicing their opinions and seeking improvements in working conditions. In the worst case, companies use non-renewals to hire less expensive teachers. The union wants to guarantee that teachers are not fired because they have finally achieved a decent salary.
Even if you are only planning to stay in Japan for a short time, unlimited term contracts allow you to continue working if you do decide to stay longer. For teachers who are here for a longer period of time, unlimited term contracts allow you some say in deciding where and for how long you will work. The bottom line is that the company should no longer be the sole arbiter in deciding how long you will work in Japan.
The union's demand on this issue is quite simple: decrease the teaching time and set this time aside as preparation time. There should be no increase in working hours to fulfill this demand. Teachers are not machines. Excessive teaching time encourages companies to view us as disposable as it gives us no or little control over our lessons. It also encourages prepackaged lessons which give teachers little flexibility in teaching students according to their needs. Teachers should be able, through training and proper preparation time, to teach lessons which meet their students needs. As teachers we take pride in our work. We should have the proper resources so we can do our jobs well.
Students pay for preparation time as a part of their fees. Most students would be shocked if they knew how little preparation time teachers actually have. Companies are not being honest with students regarding how much prep time teachers have. Companies should either explain that teachers do not have proper preparation time or should introduce it immediately. It's time for teachers to ask for an appropriate amount of daily paid time to plan our lessons.
Part-time workers are especially taken advantage of in the language industry, often receiving no guaranteed hours or minimum monthly salary, they are completely at the companies mercy. Often, if there's no work there is no pay, it's that simple. Also because part-time teachers are usually only paid to teach, companies refuse to recognize preparation time.
Many part-time teachers are young Japanese women who the companies feel they can coerce into doing extra clerical work for free in their own time. The General Union believes that the equation is simple, if you work you should get paid.
Conditions have been gradually falling in the industry, wages have generally gone down while hours have increased. Companies are more profitable if teachers teach more hours for the same monthly salary.
If this trend is not stopped the few remaining companies with good working conditions will either follow the big companies or will be pushed out of the market. Therefore, if you have decent conditions now, it is in your interest to join the union and help us all achieve good working conditions. We should be striving for a language industry that competes on the basis of quality rather than low labor costs and expensive advertising.
Another issue here is the contracting out of work to private dispatch companies, who make great profits at the taxpayers' expense. Teachers working in good jobs are slowly phased out and lower paid dispatch workers end up teaching these classes without the benefits attached to working in a "regular school"; no holidays, no professional development, and no job security.Whether you work in a conversation school or in a "regular school" we all have an interest in preserving the benefits of public and semi-public education.
We should work to improve the quality in all schools. Teachers do move around in our industry, so we need to ensure that working conditions are improved throughout the industry.
Because our union is industry based rather than company based we have the ability to raise our demands industry wide. When we deal with unfair employers, we mobilize teachers from many different companies. The demands in this leaflet will be tailored to the situation at each company and presented by each branch of the union. Together we can make the language companies and schools meet their responsibilities to the public and to us, their workers. Victory is possible, but only through a large and active union membership.
We ask all teachers to join the union to advance our rights. For those who want to do more than pay dues, join one of our organizing teams that visits schools to talk to other teachers. We encourage members to take an active role in their branch and the executive board of the union. There is plenty to do for active members with a flair for work. As a minimum we do ask that all members attend an orientation seminar and participate in both their own branch meetings and the union's general meetings. We also ask that you support other unions when at all possible; it is only by offering support that we can receive support from others.
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