Inside the “Voice” Losing university classes? Victory at Okamoto Giken GU at private language schools FACEBOOK: Is the boss watching?
S u m m e r News
from
the
General
Union
In October 2010, the General Union reported GABA to the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission for failing to declare the presence of a trade union in their annual report to stockholders. This is in direct violation of regulations. The presence of a union at GABA, and the right of GABA instructors to organize, was recognized by Osaka Labor Relations Commission in December 2009. In response to an article on the union’s website about this, GABA has sued the union for libel, demanding 58,000,000yen in damages and legal costs. The General Union believes that our activities are protected under article seven, paragraphs one through three of the Trade Union Law, and that by suing the union, GABA is interfering in trade union activity. On May 16th, the union lodged a third Unfair Labor Practice suit at the Osaka Labour Commission against GABA Corporation and for the first time, also included GABA’s owner, Daiwa Corporate Investment Co. Ltd. (See – GU suit…” pg. 2)
(Kansai
&
Tokai),
NUGW
Tokyo
South,
Fukuoka
2 0 1 1
General
Union
The union is asking for the following relief: Claimant=General Union, Defendant A=GABA, Defendant B=Daiwa. 1. Defendant A must not interfere and/or hinder the publicity activity of the applicant by demanding deletion of the article on GABA compliance on the applicant's website and demanding an apology over it. 2. Defendant A must not intimidate union members by putting pressure on the applicant, claiming an outrageous amount of groundless compensation for damages against the claimant over the claimant’s news on their website. 3. Defendant A must pay 58,200,000 yen to the claimant for interfering with the claimant's lawful rights and basic activity, thus interfering with the organizational activities, by actions described in items one and two above. 4. Defendant B must apologize for refusing demands for collective bargaining from the claimant to discuss rectification of GABA's illegality for no good reasons while having an overwhelming management right over GABA and accept the demand for collective bargaining in good faith. 5. Defendants A and B must display an apology, written in print on white wood boards of the size of 1m high and 2m across in black ink, at prominent places at the main entrances of all the workplaces of the companies, for 4 weeks, within one week of the date of receipt of this order.
For the second straight year General Union members working at universities are not waiting around in fear of losing classes in the next academic year. Our members are taking a proactive approach and are having the union submit demands for no reduction in koma or worsening of working conditions in the 2012 academic year. Often we have waited to negotiate
with universities after we have found out about cuts in koma. While we were often successful even after a decision was made it is much more difficult to negotiate cuts when they have already been made. Following up on our success in the 2011 academic year where we made similar demands at five universities and saw no cuts in koma for union (See – “Don’t wait…” pg. 3)
General Union – Kansai & Tokai NUGW Tokyo Nambu Tel: 03-3434-0669 Fax: 03-3433-0334 nugw_ts@jca.apc.org www.nugwnambu.org
Tel: 06-6352-9619 Fax: 06-6352-9630 Tokai Tel/Fax: 052-561-8555 union@generalunion.org www.generalunion.org
Fukuoka General Union Tel/Fax: 092-473-1222 fukuoka@generalunion.org www.fukuoka.generalunion.org
National Union of General Workers e r s w w w . g e n e r a l u n i o n . o r g
National Union Voice
The General Union stands by its original claims and is fighting GABA's suit in Tokyo District Court. Hearings began on January 28th and the case is on-going. We would like to make it clear that
ECC's annual evaluation process for native English instructors is broken. Typically, an employee evaluation should create standards and goals. While native teachers are given an employee handbook and work code, ECC does not give its instructors goals, or at least, does not give them realistic ones that can be achieved. As instructors all have varied schedules and different lesson types, goals should be different from instructor to instructor. More importantly, they need to be feasible. The most important part of an evaluation is the one on one meeting between the evaluator and the employee being evaluated. This is totally non-existent in ECC's system. How on earth did this happen? Why does ECC continue to allow it to happen? In most cases, the evaluator lacks the language skills to conduct a proper meeting with the one they are evaluating. Good communication is essential for the evaluation to be of any use, so what does this say of the communication in the office? The grades given during the end-of-year evaluation should not be a surprise to the one being evaluated, but more importantly, it should not be the first time the one being evaluated is learning of matters that need attention. The process ECC uses for instructor evaluations is purely opinion based, and is usually done in haste. One must wonder if the evaluators even understand the forms they’re
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the General Union will not be bullied, we will not knuckle under. The union and our members will not stop until GABA obeys its obligations, and provides worker benefits like all the major language schools.
required to complete. When asked what an instructor must do to get a grade of out-standing, two evaluators couldn’t even put it into words. Some Questions: How does a teacher who arrives well before their shift starts only get a grade of “very good” for punctuality? How does a teacher who documents with greater detail in comparison to previous years get a “needs improvement” in the record keeping category when the grades for previous years were “very good” by the same evaluator? How does a teacher who’s been given no notice of schedule changes, or little time to prepare for a sudden model lesson, only get a “very good” for adaptability? How does a teacher who goes out of thier way to vacuum classrooms dirtied by craft activities; who straightens up the office area, textbooks and flashcards; who checks school bulletins for grammar errors; who makes scrap paper; who photocopies advertisements, cuts them and places them into tissues only get a “very good” in the helpfulness category? How does a teacher whose overall evaluation grade average is “very good” only receive half of the maximum raise allotted? ECC has four different grade types: Out-standing, Very Good, Satisfactory and Needs Improvement (listed from top to bottom). If “very good” is second
Summer 2011
An organizing drive started at GABA in 2007. The union believes that since GABA controls such things as; what to wear, how and where to teach, that instructors are not independent contractors but are employees and are entitled to employee benefits as guaranteed under Labor Standards Law.
from the top, shouldn’t a teacher’s whose overall average is “very good” receive three-quarters of the maxi-mum raise? Why doesn’t a teacher get a grade of outstanding for “approachability & receptiveness” if they’ve done everything asked by staff without putting up a fuss or a change in attitude? And what about the time a teacher spends talking to potential students and current students? Are these not taken into consideration as well? Time For Change If ECC honestly wants to improve the working relationship with its native English-speaking employees, it needs to re-invent the evaluation process. A start would be to set aside time for a one-on-one meeting with the employee being evaluated by the evaluator—this needs to happen. A system that prevents the evaluator from speaking with the one being evaluated is a system without thought. ECC needs to commit to making the evaluation system a helpful tool that improves worker performance rather than as a stick to keep salary increases low. A start would be listening to teacher suggestions, removing any ambiguity or arbitrariness, as well as making the process unbiased and transparent.
National Union Voice
Shane English School Shane teachers need a union. Fed up with no shakai hoken (health and pension insurance), difficulties in using annual paid leave, and the company unilaterally assigning extra teaching duties on rostered days off, teachers in Osaka have united and are demanding their rights. The union has started negotiations, and is pursuing shakai hoken enrollment through the pension agency. Members have also lodged complaints over violations of the Workers’ Health and Safety Law, and Shane’s refusal to grant paid holidays. Clover International School After months of stalling tactics, the General Union was forced to lodge a kakunin seikyu ‘individual claim’ for shakai hoken after the school’s anti-union tactics and harassment caused our member to take stress leave. After months of avoiding pension agency officials, Clover International School, has agreed to register their business with the pension agency. Our member will be enrolled from June 1st and will be able to use their medical entitlements under shakai hoken. Union
members
win
back
allowances at NOVA/GEOS While embassies were urging their citizens to evacuate from the Kanto area, NOVA was bullying other language instructors to transfer to Tokyo or have their allowances cut. Members at one branch recruited new members to form a united front against the cuts. Protest letters and negotiations soon followed. After a round of collective bargaining, NOVA agreed to repay the cut allowances and look into the claims of intimidation. W5 Staff Services Members working at W5 set to benefit from a newly established grievance procedure. This new agreement gives members an avenue for solving individual workplace problems. Altia Central The union has won continued enrollment in shakai hoken for a group of ALTs who were disenrolled when they renewed their contracts in April. The union applied for collective bargaining and Altia quickly agreed to the continued enrollment of our members. Epion Mabuchi Over the past decade, the union has made a large number of positive
Summer 2011
changes to the working conditions of teachers at Epion. The union won enrollment in unemployment insurance, paid annual leave for all employees, a pre-consultation agreement over changes to working conditions and a grievance procedure to deal with individual workplace issues. Late last fall, Epion announced that it would make drastic changes to the paid holiday system, and working hours. Members took a stand, and after negotiations the company changed their mind. Epion’s lastest attack is to notify the union that they are canceling the pre-consultation agreement and grievance procedure. The union has applied for negotiations and will fight Epion’s decision through the Labour Relations Commission if necessary.
members, the union has decided to spread this strategy. This time we will be making demands at about a dozen universities and even sooner than last year. Our strategy is simple. In July we will send demands to these dozenuniversities attached with a list of union members and ask that union members' koma at least remain the same for 2012. Our hope is that universities, not wanting to provoke a fight with the union, will simply leave members alone. As always, there are no guarantees but if there are cuts, members will have earlier warning and have plenty of time to decide how and if they wish to fight to protect their jobs. Don't just sit back and wait for your boss to decide your future. Step up to the plate, declare your membership, and demand that your job and working conditions are protected.
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