News

Foreign workers fear exploitation as Olympic projects gather steam

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My first Labor Pains column of the new fiscal year will look at the government’s recent proposal for bringing in foreign workers.

Various proposals on easing immigration restrictions for foreign workers have been bandied about in recent years, but they were inevitably scrapped because “Japan is but a tiny island nation.” (In fact, Japan is the fifth-largest island nation in the world, after Australia, Indonesia, Madagascar and Papua New Guinea.) Incidentally, there are currently 2.03 million foreign residents and more than 700,000 foreign workers in Japan, so the country is already quite multinational and multiethnic in composition.

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Tozen Vlog for April 8, 2014

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Japan moves to expand controversial foreign worker scheme

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(Reuters) – Japan is considering expanding a controversial program that now offers workers from China and elsewhere permits to work for up to three years, as the world’s fastest-aging nation scrambles to plug gaps in a rapidly shrinking workforce.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday submitted a proposal to let workers to stay for up to five years, relax hiring rules for employers and boost the number of jobs open to them.

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Holding on to resignation letters may be common but it’s neither right nor valid

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New NHK President Katsuto Momii made headlines around the world with his claim that “comfort women” have been a common feature of conflicts involving “every country.” Using sex slaves in wartime, he said, was only wrong according to “today’s morality.” Causing great concern to press-freedom advocates, he also insisted that “when the government says ‘right,’ we cannot say ‘left.’ “lbrpnz140328

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Tozen Report: All Day Dispute Action Against GABA

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GABA Workers Union

Last Friday, Tozen GABA Workers Union took its first all day action against GABA’s threat to fire Tozen GABA Workers Union President Tyler Christensen.

We began at 6AM to leaflet GABA Shinagawa Learning Studio. We moved on to Gaba corporate HQ at 9AM. There as we handed out leaflets, GABA representative Satomi Odaka emerged from the building.

The union handed Mr. Odaka a notification of dispute, outlining the specific demands of our dispute.  You can read about them here.  Mr. Odaka responded by asking for our “road use permit,” which we don’t need, physically obstructing Case Officer Gerome Rothman and threatening to call the police.

GABA then took the step of calling the police in an attempt to shut down our protest.  We explained to the police that we were conducting legitimate union activity.  The police decided not to interfere.

We did a loud protest call with the megaphone, and concluded our action. After that, we filed a protest with the company demanding an apology for their obstruction of legitimate union activity.  We demanded they follow the law and desist from interference with union activity.

GABA Workers Union

Tozen went to Yokohama Learning Studio, where Tyler works.  During leafleting, Tyler spoke directly to his colleagues, sharing his story and drawing their support.  He also took to the megaphone in an appeal to GABA management, asking them to “Let me do my job.”

GABA members and Tozen supporters wrapped up their protest at the end of the GABA work day, in Chiba.  We leafleted at the Chiba Learning Studio.

Our first protest against GABA spanned 2 prefectures and the Tokyo Metropolis, 3 Learning Studios, and GABA HQ.  We confronted a hostile management, and meaningfully engaged with sympathetic members of the GABA community.

We would love to think that a marathon fourteen hours of protesting GABA’s stubbornness will mean the end of our struggle for Tyler.  We know, however, this is just the very beginning.

We need your help.

Tozen will not back down when its members are threatened with unfair discipline and attacks on their rights as workers. Tozen knows that all workers in Japan have the right to join a union, negotiate with management, and take collective action to improve their working conditions.

Join our fight.  Let’s make GABA better for everybody.

Chomsky Tells Tozen that Systems of Power Don’t Say Thank You
ノーム・チョムスキーから東ゼンへ：「権力者は、反対する者にはお礼を言わない」

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Tozen Activists Chat with Activist Noam Chomsky

ノーム・チョムスキーは来日中、東ゼン労組の活動家と話し合いを

Leaders and members of Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union (“Tozen Union”) met Saturday afternoon (March 8, 2014) with Professor Noam Chomsky at Café Lavandería in Shinjuku, Tokyo, at an event hosted by Tokyo Spring.

２０１４年３月８日、東京スプリングと東ゼン労組によって新宿２丁目のカフェラバンデリアで開催されたイベントに来た。東ゼン労組の活動家が世界的に有名な言語学者又は反体制派のノーム・チョムスキーと話し合うことができた。

The activist and linguist expressed great interest in the activities of both Tozen Union and Tokyo Spring.  “I’d like to know what you guys are doing,” Chomsky said.

チョムスキー教授は東ゼン労組と東京スプリングの活動に関して深い興味を示した。「（私の話よりも）みなさんの活動について聞きたい」とチョムスキーは言った。

Several members of both organizations asked questions and related their experiences in activism and organizing.

集まれた活動家はチョムスキー教授に質問をしたり、自分の活動の経験を話したりした。

Tozen member Matthew Allen discussed the dangers of union leaders becoming a “coordinator class” with unwarranted power.  Chomsky suggested that efforts to eliminate all division of labor have failed.

東ゼン労組のマシュー・アレンは組合のリーダーがコーディネーター・クラス（経営側に該当する）になる危険について話した。チョムスキー教授はすべての分業・役割分担を廃棄するような努力をした組織は、現在に至るまで成功した事例がないと警告した。

Sulejman Brkic, Tokyo Spring activist and member of Tozen Union, MCed the event, while Tozen Union General Secretary Louis Carlet interpreted between Japanese and English.  Tozen President Hifumi Okunuki presented Chomsky with a calligraphy-written haiku (see below).  Brkic gave him the black and red flag of anarcho-communism on behalf of Tokyo Spring.

東京スプリングの活動家および東ゼン労組の組合員を兼ねるスレイマン・ブルキッチはイベントを司会した。東ゼン労組の書記長のルイス・カーレットは日英と英日の通訳をした。東ゼン労組の執行委員長の奥貫妃文は、チョムスキー教授に筆で書いた俳句を贈った（下記を参照）。ブリキッチ氏はチョムスキー教授に手作りのアナルココミュニズムの黒赤の旗を贈った。

Chomsky encouraged Tozen and Tokyo Spring activists to continue their efforts and said “Anything that you are achieving that undermines and threatens systems of power will meet with oppression.  Systems of power don’t say ‘thank you.’  What’s important is not to focus all your efforts on the oppression, but to continue the constructive work.”

チョムスキー教授は東ゼン労組と東京スプリングの活動を励ました。「権力制度を弱体化させる活動をすれば、弾圧されるよ。弾圧をされるのはトウゼンだ。その弾圧にばかり注目をしなくて、価値のある活動を続けるのは第一だ。」とチョムスキー教授は言った。

US State Department Lauds Tozen for Pension Activism

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“A Pension Agency enforcement directive continues to make it explicitly easier for employers to avoid paying pension and insurance contributions on behalf of their foreign employees who teach languages as compared with Japanese employees in similar positions. It also does not establish penalties for employers who illegally fail to enroll foreign teachers in the system. Employers may use different contracts for foreigners than for nationals, and courts have generally upheld this distinction as nondiscriminatory.

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