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 school history.
Begunto demands a 4.6 percent base pay hike and a one-off bonus of one month’s salary. Berlitz Japan has not raised teachers’ base pay for 16 years. Three years ago, the language school lowered starting pay by over 10 percent per lesson, a cut only partially mitigated by a performance-based raise this year.
These demands are carried over from last year and are the two key demands of Begunto’s 2008 “shunto.”
Shunto is the traditional labor offensive that unions around the country wage each spring. It literally means “spring battle.” In Japan, even labor disputes invoke seasonal change.
Although management’s two proposals have thus far fallen short of Begunto’s demands, members are showing extraordinary energy and commitment to building momentum in the strike until the demands are met. Two language centers that have had particularly effective walkouts are the powerful Akasaka and Ikebukuro “shops.” More than half of all Berlitz schools in Kanto have participated in the strike.
In order to realize the strike demands, the union has organized and coordinated sophisticated surgical strikes, including bait-and-switch and strike feints. This keeps bosses on their toes.
Due to logistic issues, Begunto often can give written notice to the company only several minutes before the start of a particular strike. So management has had to scramble to cover lessons. They sometimes send and pay replacement teachers to cover lessons that end up not being struck, so nonstrikes can be as costly to the company as strikes. On other occasions, management sets up a team of replacement teachers at a nearby cafe, ready to rush over at a moment’s notice in case a strike occurs. The union calls these scabs-in-waiting “caffeine cowboys.” The company also assigns teachers to special “scab-watch” periods, meaning they get paid to wait in case a strike might happen.
Berlitz apparently prefers to spend a great deal of money and energy breaking the strike rather than resolving it by meeting the union’s reasonable demands. Their reasonableness becomes evident in light of Japan’s rising consumer price index (up 2.1 percent year-on-year in August), the slashing of starting pay in 2005 and the 16-year pay hike drought.
In addition to striking nearly every day, Begunto has held demonstrations at various schools around the Kanto Plain nearly every week and has toured Tokyo several times in a sound truck, announcing over a loud speaker, to make sure that the public knows why Berlitz teachers are fighting.
Begunto recently posted on the bulletin board of many Berlitz schools a document entitled “Definition of a Scab,” which caused some controversy. The definition actually belongs to author Jack London and includes such colorful hyperbole as:
“After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad, the vampire, He had some awful substance left with which He made a scab.
“A scab is a two-legged animal with a cork-screw soul, a water-logged brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue. Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten principles.
“When a scab comes down the street, men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and the Devil shuts the gates of Hell to keep him out.”
That neither London nor Begunto meant the above definition in a literal way hardly needs mention. That union members are frustrated every time a fellow teacher chooses to help break the strike is why the document went up.
Union members never insist that every single Berlitz employee strike alongside his or her coworkers. They have only asked that teachers refrain from covering struck lessons when it is optional, as it often is. Scabs undermine the hard work, sacrifice and dedication of striking teachers and prolong resolution of the dispute.
One thing I learned from this strike is that there is no way to stay out of it. Each employee is forced by the circumstances of the strike to make a personal decision, which is either: 1) to join the strike; 2) to stay on the sidelines but refuse to cover lessons when it is optional; 3) to help break the strike by choosing to cover struck lessons.
Demonstrating its moderation in comparison with many labor unions, Begunto members have decided to consider only members of the third group as full-fledged “scabs.” In my opinion, it is a difference between courage and cowardice, principle versus pusillanimity.
It is easy to criticize the strike or the union, especially from the sidelines. What is hard is to get up and do something, to make a difference, fight for justice, take action right at the front lines. Begunto members do more than talk ? they act. The small number of teachers and staff who oppose the strike and/or the union will themselves benefit when the union wins higher pay for all.
In fact, thanks to the solidarity, dedication and hard work of union members – and a strike entails quite a bit of hard work – management has already made two pay hike offers, the latest on Sept. 26. At the time of writing, the union was widely expected to reject the second offer as far short of demands. Yet even this offer would never have happened without the efforts of the Begunto strikers.
Most surprisingly, the strike has been very successful as a union-building tool, drawing in many new members impressed that the union is taking positive action.
The right to strike is guaranteed by the Japanese Constitution, the Trade Union Law and international law. An individual has precious little negotiation strength vis-a-vis a big company (or even a small one). A union acting out of solidarity multiplies the negotiating position of its members exponentially. It also turns the workplace from an effective dictatorship into something approaching a democracy.
Teachers at Simul International – like Berlitz Japan a subsidiary of Benesse Corp. – are also striking, “simultaneously,” as it were. In their case, they are fighting for enrollment in Japan’s “shakai hoken” pension and health scheme. The union argues that Simul management is violating both the Health Insurance Law and Pension Insurance Law by failing to enroll its full-time employees.
So Benesse Group has its hands full with big strikes at two of its member companies at the same time.
It’s ironic that some employees, such as the teacher in the recent article in Tokyo’s Metropolis magazine (“Banding Together”), complain that the strike has not yet led to total victory when they themselves are part of the problem. I would say to them that we have not won yet because you have not joined the strike. Strength in numbers – again it hardly needs mentioning.
When more teachers join the strike rather than grumble that it “hasn’t worked yet,” the union will win.
Louis Carlet is Berlitz General Union’s Tokyo Representative, National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu.
Action
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 began last December. Over 55 teachers have joined in the time-fixed, volunteer strikes, making it by many accounts the largest enduring work stoppage in the history of Japan’s language industry.
“What we have discovered to our surprise and delight and to management’s chagrin is that many employees are joining the union just to participate in the strike,” said Begunto case officer Louis Carlet. “The strike is the best unionizing tool we have ever had.”
Another crucial point is that while most language school labor disputes aim to maintain or protect working conditions or employment, this strike is “aggressive rather than defensive in that we are fighting for a raise,” notes Begunto Vice President Catherine Campbell.
The union has also held several rowdy, boisterous pickets at several schools around the region, even at non-striking schools, urging coworkers to do the right thing. Check out a video of one such action:
Jack London’s scathing “definition of a scab” also hangs on the union board at most Kanto schools. Finally, some Kanagawa strikers created a rap song specifically about our 2008 shunto fight:
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 not last long. Most backed down, but one courageous teacher named Joyce continued the fight. Nambu waited to declare her membership until after her employment contract was renewed in April. Little Garden gave her a raise along with the renewal.
Two weeks after declaration, Little Garden gave our Joyce a dismissal notice. During collective bargaining, management claimed that although during her first year of employment she had a sterling record, in the fortnight between declaration and dismissal, the company received a record number of complaints from parents of the preschoolers. The union believes the real record is rather for “shamelessness of union discrimination.”
Nambu doesn’t brook union-busting. We have begun strikes, leaflets and will pursue the employees’ right to unionize by all legal means necessary.
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 began “shunto” (spring) negotiations for a “base-up” raise and bonus.
As the time of writing, at least 55 teachers have conducted “spot strikes” at at least 16 Berlitz schools, most of these in greater Tokyo. Begunto says it is encouraged by the response: Some French and Spanish teachers have walked out, and several more teachers have joined the union. That adds up to teachers walking out of 275 lessons in the greater Tokyo area, at large schools in Ikebukuro and Akasaka as well as suburban locations such as Seijo Gakuen, Atsugi and Kashiwa.
Louis Carlet, Deputy Secretary General of the National Union of General Workers [Tokyo Nambu], Begunto’s parent union, writes that Berlitz has been forced to “spend massive amounts of money and resources sending ‘shadows’ to cover the classes of potential strikers with strikebreakers.”
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 look at us like we?re terrorists,?? workers from different parts of the globe marched through the capital?s Shibuya district.
Protestors from the United States, Canada, South America, Europe, Asia and Africa heard angry speeches over a variety of grouses and frustrations, such as a trend towards hiring the cheapest available foreign labour and exploit it to the maximum.
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” and “Venceremos” echoed in a park in the trendy Tokyo district of Shibuya, where demonstrators gathered before they took to the streets.
“We must take matters in our own hands and raise awareness of the problems foreign workers face in Japan,” said Satoshi Murayama of the Kanagawa City Union, whose members come mostly from Latin America.
While Japan has accepted an increasing number of foreign workers, many employment problems have been reported.
“In Japan, companies hire foreign workers as cheap labour, and that has to stop,” Zentoitsu unionist Ippei Torii said. Torii has received many phone calls from trainees who were brought from China to work at farms or factories in the outskirts of Tokyo for 300 yen (2.9 dollars) to 500 yen an hour.
Zentoitsu has 2,600 of its total 3,600 members from outside of Japan.
Ali Nusrat from Pakistan is currently asking his company to pay worker’s compensation for burns on his hands. He was working at a bread-making company after he retired from a factory filling lunch boxes for five years for 750 yen per hour.
Tony Dolan said he was on strike for two weeks demanding social security benefits from a company where he worked for 12 years as a full-time teacher. The US citizen holds a permanent visa and has lived in Japan for 13 years.
Last year, Japan’s largest English school went bankrupt and hundreds of teachers, mostly from Australia, were laid off.
A Japanese onlooker agreed with the foreign workers’ demand for equal rights because he said they are forced to bear worse working conditions than most Japanese people.
“Some Japanese people try to ignore the problems faced by foreign residents, but we should all know about the issue and think about it,” he said.
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 begin to treat foreigners as equal as Japanese and give them job security and equality,” said Louis Carlet, deputy general secretary of the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu, which jointly organized the rally with Japanese labor unions.
Before the march, music and sports performances were staged at Miyashita Park, and keynote speeches were given by representatives from various labor unions.
Around 3 p.m., the participants, foreign and Japanese, left the park and began marching down the middle of Meiji Boulevard, chanting demands for improved working conditions and saying “no” to discrimination, including mandatory fingerprinting for foreigners upon entering Japan.
The props for the rally included not only signs and flags, but also a casket to draw attention to the failure of Nova Corp., the giant language-school chain that went bust last year, leaving thousands of teachers jobless.
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 of enrollment in Shakai Hoken health and pension schemes. In addition to a legal obligation for both employer and employee, it is an important protection in the event of injury or illness. Employees in Shakai Hoken also tend to be treated more like real, permanent employees, meaning it provides a modicum of job security on top of income and health security.
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 problems of housing, visa extensions, and no job.
The NUGW Tokyo Nambu office will be open Sunday, January 6, from 2:00 to 6:00 pm, for G-communications teachers and staff who wish to join GUTS (G Union of Teachers and Staff). The union is open to those who were promised employment at the company, including people currently working at G, and those who received letters of dismissal during December. We have submitted demands that G-comm honour its committment to full re-employment; join us to insist that G-comm take responsibility for its actions.
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 the union. “They don’t know what they are going to do.”
According to Campbell, teachers were notified of G.education’s decision last Friday via e-mail.
She criticized G.education for breaking its promise and for the timing of its bad news, coming when many job aspirants had returned to their homes overseas for Christmas.
They had hoped to come back to Japan and work, but now that the jobs they were expecting are unlikely to materialize, they may find themselves unable to pay the rent for their apartments full of their belongings, she said.
Yujiro Hiraga, president of [Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union’s predecessor] National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu, said the union will seek collective bargaining because G.education has not provided a clear explanation for its decision.