Union Demands:
- Increase remuneration by 200 yen for all instructors/lesson types.
- End Qualified Invoice System requirements
We believe these demands are fair and we will fight until these demands are realized.
Background:
In 2016, Gaba Workers Union became the first instructors to ever strike at Gaba.
Gaba disciplined the instructors claiming that instructors didn’t have the right to strike. The struck lessons were recorded as “unexcused absences”.
This did not detour the Union instructors, and the GWU struck several more times, receiving the same warning letters each time, and meanwhile filed a lawsuit against Gaba.
In 2019, GWU won the lawsuit by way of verdict. Management was ordered to recognize our Union Rights, retract all warning letters, and apologize to the Union for interfering in the strike.
Gaba appealed this verdict. The case was then sent to the highest Labor Court in Japan, the Central Labor Commission.
This time, it appeared that GWU and Gaba would agree on a settlement with Gaba getting strike rules, GWU getting everything from the previous verdict plus Union bulletin boards in LS break rooms, but this all came to a halt when NOVA Holdings suddenly bought and took over Gaba. NOVA Holdings essentially gave up and settled with GWU under the conditions of the first verdict, effectively wasting the 2+ years of negotiations GWU had with the previous Management.
Since the takeover, NOVA Holdings has slashed the work force and other costs at Gaba, reportedly saying that they are “willing to sacrifice quality” in order to save costs.
That’s their prerogative, but they have also significantly reduced the quality of Instructors’ lives, meanwhile refusing all of GWU’s demands at CB, using stalling tactics to avoid talking to us, unilaterally making major contractual changes, and now are forcing Instructors to give up their tax exemption privilege, even though there is no government requirement to do so. By doing this, they are trying to pass on their tax burden to the Instructors.
Management has threatened to non-renewal any instructors who do not to agree to pay Gaba’s tax burden.
Japan inflation rate is at an all-time high. Gaba is feeling the effect too, evident by the fact that they have raised their prices of tuition and curriculum, however Gaba Instructors are still living on a 2008 salary.
After months of being shunned by Management, GWU entered a state of dispute with Gaba on June 25, 2023.
The main demands are:
・a ¥200 raise for all instructors/all lesson types
・end requirements for the Qualified Invoice System
On July 4th, GWU held its first strike in about 7 years.