TozenAdmin

NCC organizing a labor union

by

株式会社エヌ・シイ・シイ
ＮＣＣ綜合英語学院　学院長秘書室

〒160-0023 東京都新宿区西新宿7丁目15-4 YS第一ビル 受付4階
東京新宿本部

• Temporary employment contracts
• Poor communication from management
• No pay raises given to teachers regardless of length of service or qualifications.
• Limited office space for foreign work staff
• Lack of transparency
• No procedures to deal with extreme weather

If you have issues with any of the above, join fellow teachers by unionising and improving your working conditions at NCC.

Email: organizing@tokyogeneralunion.org for more information or for a membership package to be sent to you.

Teachers tread water in eikaiwa limbo

by
BY CRAIG CURRIE-ROBSON
Jan 22nd, 2014
Illustration by TIM O'BREE
Illustration by TIM O’BREE

Every year, thousands of young native English-speakers fly to Asia in search of an adventure, financed by working as English teachers. They come from Australia, New Zealand, the U.S., Britain, Canada and elsewhere.

But it can be risky leaping into another country on the promise of an “easy” job. In Japan’s competitive English teaching market, foreign language instructors are treading water. “Subcontractor” teachers at corporate giant Gaba fight in the courts to be recognized as employees. Berlitz instructors become embroiled in a four-year industrial dispute, complete with strikes and legal action. Known locally as eikaiwa, “conversation schools” across the country have slashed benefits and reduced wages, forcing teachers to work longer hours, split-shifts and multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

Read more

Five-Year Rule Seminar

by

Does new Labor Contract Law mean five years and out?　Or five years and in?

「５年ルールセミナー」開催します！

◆ Date：日　時　
Sunday, December １, 2013　2:00pm to 5:00pm
２０１３年１２月１日（日）午後２時００分〜午後５時００分

　　　　　　No entrance fee！ 参加はどなたでも無料です。

Read more

[日本語版]Japan College of Foreign Languages Once Again Interferes With Legal Union Activity. We will not back down! またもや正当な組合活動を妨害した日本外国語専門学校（ＪＣＦＬ） ～それでも、私たちはへこたれません！

by

今朝（2013年10月18日）東ゼンJCFL支部組合員、東ゼン組合員、支持者が日本外国語専門学校（以下JCFLと略）に私たちの組合を拡大するためにJCFLでビラ配りをしました。以下はその報告です。

Read more

Japan College of Foreign Languages Once Again Interferes With Legal Union Activity. We will not back down! またもや正当な組合活動を妨害した日本外国語専門学校（ＪＣＦＬ） ～それでも、私たちはへこたれません！

by

This morning Tozen JCFL Local members, Tozen members, and supporters conducted a leafleting at JCFL in an effort to build our union there. Below is our report.

Leafleting Report

After gathering we walked together towards the school, put on our armbands, and got to leafleting. We began leafleting at 8:40. Several staffers immediately stood in front of the union members attempting to block them. The members kept their cool and persisted in leafleting, trying hard to get the leaflets to the students without touching the staffers. I tried to confront the staffers individually, informing them that this was a union action and they should not interfere. The staffers either ignored me or told me that they were outside to protect the students from cars, and that they are out there every day. Principal Iizuka said this several times as well. School staff, however, do not greet students in the street on a daily basis.

Read more

Is Sulejman Brkic no longer a member of the ICC Family?

by

Tozen member Sulejman Brkic was bloody illegally fired.

Fired TeacherICC Language Schools is a language school that has six branches in the Kanto area, with its headquarters in Yokohama. Sulejman Brkic has been teaching English and French courses at this school for twenty years. He has always been very popular among his students, not only because of his superb teaching skills, but also for his charming personality and his wry sense of humor. Sulejman loves his job, and has worked passionately for the past two decades.

Read more

スレイマン・ブルキッチ組合員は、もう「ICC Family」じゃないの？！

by

koushiboshu02a株式会社ICC（本社：横浜市）は、関東地域に６つのスクールをもつ語学学校です。スレイマン・ブルキッチ組合員は、20年間にわたり、ICCで英語とフランス語の講師として仕事をしてきました。ちょっぴり皮肉やさんながらとてもチャーミングな彼は、教え方にとても定評があり、生徒たちからの人気も抜群でした。彼はやりがいと情熱をもって20年間働いてきました。

Read more

Matahara: turning the clock back on women’s rights

by
SOURCE: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF POPULATION AND SOCIAL SECURITY RESEARCH 14TH CHILDBIRTH TREND STUDY (2011); GRAPHIC BY TIM O'BREE
SOURCE: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF POPULATION AND SOCIAL SECURITY RESEARCH 14TH CHILDBIRTH TREND STUDY (2011); GRAPHIC BY TIM O’BREE

Matahara: turning the clock back on women’s rights
‘Maternity harassment‘ concept coined amid reports of bullying over pregnancy at work
BY HIFUMI OKUNUKI

“When I told my company I was pregnant, they fired me.”
“I was delighted to be hired by a company I loved. Then my boss made me promise not to get pregnant for a while.”

In last October’s Labor Pains, I discussed maternal job rights in “Labor law protects expectant and new mothers — to a point.” Today, I would like to address a new legal concept known as “maternity harassment,” or matahara, in the syllabic acronym engendered by this growing — and disturbing — trend.

Read more