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Berlitz strike grows despite naysayers
Historic six-month action is starting to reap dividends Despite scabs, naysayers and second-guessing pundits in the English-language media, Berlitz teachers are making history. With more than 100 teachers striking at dozens of schools around the Kanto region for over six months, the industrial action at Berlitz is now the largest sustained strike in Japan’s language…
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Berlitz Striking Teachers Make History
The Berlitz General Union Tokyo (Begunto, a local of Nambu) maintained and expanded its 2007 shunto strike during this year’s shunto, focusing on two demands: a 4.6% across-the-boards base pay hike and a one month bonus. Nearly half of all 46 Berlitz schools in the Kanto plain have been hit by walkouts since the dispute…
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Little Garden Smashes Shamelessness Record for Union Discrimination
NUGW Tokyo Nambu on May 15 filed a petition against preschool Little Garden for redress from unfair labor practices — sued the firm for union busting — at the Tokyo Labor Commission. Last summer, teachers and admin staff tried to build a union but management came down hard, making clear that anyone who joined would…
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As parent firm posts record profits, Berlitz teachers strike back
“Benesse boasts openly on its Web site about the success of its ‘Language Company’ sector, mentioning Berlitz Japan in particular,” notes longtime Berlitz teacher and Begunto (Berlitz General Union Tokyo) Vice President Catherine Campbell. The language teachers of Begunto didn’t need a math class to put two and two together, and in April 2007 they…
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LABOUR-JAPAN: Foreign Workers’ Grievances Erupt At Rally
With its own population both aging and declining, Japan needs migrant workers to sustain its economy. But the government?s failure to formulate an accommodative policy was evident at a rally in the capital on Sunday attended by some 300 foreign workers. Waving banners and shouting slogans such as “stop discrimination against foreign workers” and “Japanese…
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Foreign workers rally in Tokyo for equal rights, job security
Angry and frustrated, nearly 300 foreign residents of Japan rallied in the streets of central Tokyo Sunday to demand equal rights and job security. At the fourth annual demonstration, workers from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas spoke about unfair treatment they received on the job in Japan. South Korea’s song for democracy, “Great China”…
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Foreign workers rally in Shibuya for equal rights
JOB SECURITY, SOCIAL INSURANCE DEMANDED Foreign workers staged a rally in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, on Sunday as part of their annual spring labor offensive, calling for proper and equal treatment on par with Japanese working conditions. Hundreds of people from various countries gathered in Miyashita Park for the afternoon “March in March” event. “Employers must…
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SAITU Strikes Back at Simul International
This week marks the first week of industrial action at language school Simul International, the first in its history. Tony and his fellow members have shown tremendous courage with surgical strikes nearly every day on the demand to be enrolled in Shakai Hoken health and pension. Foreign workers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance…
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Attention G-communication teachers and staff
G-Education and its parent company G-communication repeated NOVA’s pattern of broken promises when they suddenly announced the dismissals of 800 former NOVA teachers and staff who had been promised work at G-comm in January. The declaration, coming just a week after the company president publicly repeated assurances of re-employment, leaves many facing once again the…
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Firm reneges on promised jobs for Nova teachers
National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu, a Tokyo-based labor union [and predecessor of Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union] whose ranks include many ex-Nova teachers, also decried G.education’s sudden announcement. “It was all very sudden. It was a big shock to people,” said Catherine Campbell, who is currently in charge of the Nova case at…