Tag: Selnate

  • Renewal Time

    Hello all, It is that time of year again! Time for the mad scramble of March when good teachers everywhere are worried if their contracts are going to be renewed or not, otherwise known as the “ALT Shuffle”. Two things you should be sure NOT to do: 1) Do NOT let your employer force you…

  • Attention ALTs!

    If Interac tries to pressure you into signing up for Kokumin Kenko Hoken, don’t do it! Kokumin Kenko Hoken is for people that are self-employed or unemployed. If you sign up for Kokumin Kenko Hoken, you may be forced to back enroll into the system up to the time that you started working in Japan…

  • An open letter to Interac concerning health insurance

    An open letter to the management of Interac (as well as Maxceed and Selnate) November 5th, 2009 To whom it may concern (including Kevin Salthouse and Denis Cusack), I am an executive of the ALT branch of Tokyo Nambu’s Foreign Workers Caucus. I worked for Interac  from September of 2005 until February 2008, under the…

  • Interac and Pregnancy: Getting Fired for Being Pregnant

    Last year when I was in the Osaka based General Union, we received an email from an Interac ALT who was rather upset because she had been fired for being pregnant. Martina (name changed) was set to have her contract renewed with her school where she was loved by her students and teachers. Her contract…

  • New law: no dues, no visa

    An article from July that concerns every foreigner working in Japan. Are you enrolled in Shakai Hoken or did Interac tell you you weren’t eligible? Are you going to have to pay up to two years of back pay into the system next year because Interac/Maxceed did not register you into the system when you…

  • Liberation In Iwate

    In 2007, I recieved an email from an Interac employee that was interested in being directly hired by his BOE. He had tried in earnest to improve his working conditions through Interac, but they were uninterested in signing him up for Shakai Hoken, unemployment insurance, giving him a raise, etcetera. At the time I was…

  • Stop Illegal Dispatching in Tokyo/Kanto!

    Recently in the news, an NihonTerebi (Channel 4 in the Tokyo area) story focused on trials that a lot of ALTs face, focusing on the fact that not only are these creating a less than optimal working enviornment for foreign teachers but also that many of the contracts are Illegal. The reporters that researched the…

  • 自己紹介

    My name is Erich and I am a member of Nambu FWC, a former member and a current friend of the Osaka based General Union. I joined the GU a few years ago to improve the working conditions in the city that I lived and worked, Matsubara, Osaka. We in the GU were able to…

  • Immigration and Health Insurance

    Recently announced changes to immigration guidelines link your visa to enrollment in government approved health insurance. This means kokumin kenko hoken or shakai hoken/shigaku kyosai (Employee’s health & Pension).

  • Interac in the News – Punishment for Being Sick

    An article from January, 2008 about the fact that Interac ALTs do not get all of what they are entitled to by law. http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080105f1.html THIS FOREIGN LAND Assistant language teachers in trying times By KANAKO TAKAHARA Staff writer Last of four parts In November, Samantha Bouton, an assistant language teacher working at a public elementary…