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Last Updated: 2010-07-16

First Collective Bargaining Negotiation: Kindai EWA Branch

Lee Chang Tye, Secretary of the Kindai EWA Branch

The first collective bargaining negotiation between the newly formed Kindai EWA branch and Kindai University was held on Tuesday evening July the 6th 2010 in the Honkan building. In attendance for the EWA branch were Neo Yamashita, two other senior members of the EWA and three branch members. Members in attendance for Kindai University included the vice-president & representatives from the administration, personnel and various teaching departments.

As we had already met the introductions were brief and the university representatives began by reading out the 2 proposals we had formally requested:

Issue one concerned class cancellations due to low/no enrolments for both credited and non-credited classes. In the case of non-credited classes, failing attendance is also a concern. We requested that in this event for our classes to remain open and that we would instead offer English-related services such as working at the E-Cube (an English speaking social/activity centre), or to provide English editing services for academics and other staff during class time.

This proposal came about because for some hijoukin staff teaching assigned elective classes there is a real risk of class cancellation at the beginning of both semesters. And for those of us assigned non-credited English conversation classes this risk hangs over us if the attendance of the class falls to zero for three consecutive weeks. Up till now very few native-English hijoukin ever lost classes due to the conscientious efforts of some sympathetic full-timers. However, this year being the first where each department has its own autonomous English program, one of our members lost two of his elective classes. For a number of years we have felt that these elective classes have been scheduled in unfair competition with compulsory or other important classes but have accepted the situation gracefully as no one - up till now - has had a class, let alone two, cancelled.

At the negotiation the university representatives read out the conditions stipulated on our contract that in the event of a class closing we would get paid our full salary for two months. They then reported that they had made some enquiries consistent with our proposal to the various departments concerned and that they had no need for our offered services. These English-related services are already taken care of through various offices on campus and that working at the E-Cube would not be favourable because of the difference in pay we receive compared to the E-Cube's NOVA-style despatch staff's salary.

They also researched the class cancellation policies and practices of 19 big universities, labour standards law, and gathered some statistics on how many hijoukin classes were closed compared to the total number of hijoukin teaching at Kindai. It was found that out of 900 hijoukin teaching at Kindai only 6 of them lost classes. And out of the 19 large universities most paid out 2-3 months of the teacher's salary in the advent of class cancellation. In fact only one university actually followed labour standards law and continued to pay 60% of the teacher's salary for the remainder of the year. Even though our original proposal was turned down their response was encouraging and unexpected. They said that they would seriously consider looking into following the labour standards law and compensate the teacher with 60% of his/her salary and it was agreed that they would give us a definite answer in spring. In addition they would start to make some inquiries to the relevant head of department about our union member's cancelled classes.

The second issue raised at the meeting concerned access to workplace health insurance for the hijoukin staff. Over the previous years several teachers seriously injured themselves whilst on campus, in some cases, ambulances were required and medical costs were significant. This raised questions about what workplace health cover we were legally entitled to and what should be done in such emergencies. On several occasions such questions were asked of middle management who responded negatively by suppressing such concerns instead of making further inquires to the administration. This left us confused and feeling neglected. Through inquiries made by the union, we are now aware that every part-timer is covered by the Ryosai Hoken, a compulsory and inexpensive health insurance scheme that covers all part-time staff. To apply for such cover the injury should be reported to Jinjika who then take down the details and send the report to the labour standards inspection office for assessment. If passed the injured party is then eligible for compensation for their medical expenses. At the negotiation the Kindai representatives constructively responded by stating their intention to include this application form in future official documentation that is given to us at the beginning of each year. In addition we asked if the title of the application form could be prefaced in English to which they agreed. Following a few more informal exchanges between native English speakers on both sides clarifying the circumstances which surrounded our members' cancelled classes, the meeting ended after 40 minutes. To summarize, the negotiation was conducted in a professional, open, honest and respectful manner, "gentlemanly" as one of our senior EWA members called it. The relationship between the union branch and management continues to be a healthy working one characterised by open lines of communication. And, members of both sides have had their awareness raised as to what constitutes correct labour standards practice.

ALTs Successful Negotiations in Hanshin Area

by Greg Patton Chair, EWA Amagasaki Branch

The Kobe KATEs finally get a raise. Hooray! Ashiya ALTs get a bit of a boost in their bonus. Yea! Amagasaki ALTs win 10 paid sick days to use if necessary and no further pay cuts. Sound too good to be true? No, these recent successes have all come since the three EWA ALT branches, Amagasaki, Ashiya, and Kobe, joined forces and actively supported each other.

Several years ago the three Hanshin area ALT branch chairs sat down with Mr Yamashita and Ms Izawa from headquarters and decided to coordinate our efforts to negotiate with our local Boards of Education. Since then we have jointly presented our demands and attended and supported each other during negotiations. It looks like our strategy has begun to pay off.

This past March the Kobe Board of Education gave their KATEs the first raise since the start of the program in 1992. The Board of Education stated that the 6% raise was in response to the KATEs many years of experience and knowledge. The Board of Education also acknowledged that the KATEs were uniquely qualified to help train and advise younger JET ALTs as well as help these JETs adapt to lifestyle in Japan. The KATEs were also asked to share ideas in the creation of teaching materials and be leaders at discussion groups at conferences. All in all it was a very satisfying victory and sets an excellent precedent for continued cooperation towards increasing the quality of education in Kobe and KATE working conditions.

In Amagasaki, after some back and forth negotiating over the number of paid and unpaid days, the city and EWA agreed on 10 paid sick days to be followed, if necessary, by unpaid days. With stronger and stronger new strains of influenza appearing every year the paid sick days couldn't have come at a better time. We were also spared the ongoing pay and bonus cuts our colleagues and friends working for the city are being forced to bear the brunt of. In Ashiya, the local BoE has been relatively generous, given the tough economic times affecting Hanshin area cities, and has given their ALTs small but welcome increases in bonus and salary over the past couple years and are continuing to address Ashiya ALT workplace concerns.

All in all it has been a pretty successful couple years. There are still many issues we would like to address and a lot of work ahead, but hopefully together we can build on this foundation and strive to do our best for our students and improve working conditions for the ALTs in the Hanshin area.

Spring Labor Offensive 2010

The annual Spring Labor Offensive will be held March 3rd this year.

We will meet at 8:30AM at the Tel-well which is several blocks south of JR Morinomiya Station and about a block to the west of the JR tracks. Here is a link to a yahoomaps page: http://map.yahoo.co.jp/pl?type=scroll&lat=34.67823009312947&lon=135.53343993625018&z=20&mode=map&pointer=on&datum=wgs&fa=ks&home=on&hlat=34.681311457604&hlon=135.53357672891&layout=&ei=utf-8&p=

The spring labor offensive is an important day on the annual calendar and is an excellent chance to come out and support fellow members who are currently experiencing troubles in their workplaces. It's a long, but rewarding (and sometimes exciting) day and there's plenty of time for a beer afterwards. See you there.

Formation of the EWA Kindai Branch

by Lee Chang Tye, Secretary EWA Kindai Branch

The EWA (Education Workers and Amalgamated Union Osaka) is an Osaka-based trade union for all staff working in the education sector regardless of nationality, sector and job. The Kindai EWA branch comprises of Native-English and Japanese part-time staff employed at Kinki university who, although generally appreciative of the working conditions at Kindai, are concerned about the uncertainties of the future. These changes include the dissolution of the Gogakukyoikubu which up to now has employed many of the Native-English speakers, and, by the disturbing demographic predictions and consequent policy trends which have been enacted by most other universities often at the expense of the part-time teacher.

On the evening of the 1st of February 2010 the representatives of Kinki University met with Neo Yamashita & EWA members to announce the formation of our newly formed Kindai EWA branch. Both groups met in the main "Honkan" building, on one side were nine official representatives from Kindai, some from administration, some the heads of various teaching departments and others from the personnel department. The Kindai EWA branch was represented by Mr. Neo Yamashita and five part-time Native-English speakers, later a sixth part-time Japanese member joined the group.

After the initial formal introductions and exchanging of meishi the substance of meeting was discussed. We declared the formation of the union branch and assured them that basically we part-timers appreciated working at Kindai and that there were no major problems or demands to declare. However, we expressed our desire to declare a union. During the formalities, both sides carefully went through negotiating the various points written in the union declaration form. It soon became clear that most of the Kindai representatives were uniformly puzzled by, and questioned our need to even have this union as there is already a Japanese hijoukin union active at Kindai.

Mr. Yamashita explained that we needed representation and an avenue to have our concerns heard so that information can flow both ways and to avoid any possible misunderstandings which can seriously affect the workplace culture. For example, even for teachers who have been working at Kindai for years, simple things like to whom and how do we go about raising any concerns can be confusing. These problems are likely to be compounded now that the Native-English speakers will be employed through different departments. The Kindai representatives clarified this explaining that we should first take our concerns to the Jinjika at our respective departments.

One point of disagreement concerning the union's declaration was that Kinki university did not recognise the need to get the union's consent when changing working conditions. It is part of the union's declaration to get the university to agree to consult with, and get consent from, the union before making any changes to union members' working conditions. In the university's defence they said that they didn't expect any deterioration of working conditions and hence felt no need to make that agreement. They also felt it unnecessary to agree to the union's request to abide by the trade union law. In return, the union refused to hand over the list of union member names. Despite these minor disagreements, the university, most importantly, recognises that the EWA now officially has an existing branch at Kinki University.

Overall the discussions in the meeting were very cordial and the Kindai representatives assured us that they had no intentions in making any major changes to the relevant programs. At the end of the meeting, the Head of Personnel Mr. Tsuji Hiroyasu dropped formality and stepped forward individually to express his belief that Kindai was a university with kind, accommodating policies towards their part-time staff. And from that positive note we have started the basis of what is hopefully, a respectful, healthy working union-employer relationship that will continue for many years to come. Joining the EWA does not necessarily mean you are a "trouble-maker" with greater instability and fear for your job. On the contrary, it means greater peace of mind. However, it is crucial to join BEFORE problems to your working conditions are announced.

If you are an English speaker and are interested in joining the EWA at Kindai you can approach your local EWA member or email the secretary at ewakindai@gmail.com for more information. If you are more comfortable communicating in Japanese you can contact the EWA directly by phone at 06-47930633, or fax - 06-47930644, or email - info@ewaosaka.org . If you are interested in joining the EWA in general or want more information about its activities (both in Japanese and English) visit its website: http://www.ewaosaka.org or contact them directly.

Successful Collective Bargaining with Kobe Shinwa

by Mark

The Kobe Shinwa Women's University EWA branch replied to the school's letter of 7 July, 2009 "English Communication Classes for 2010-2011 (Request)". We arranged a meeting with KSWU officials in early September.

The salient points from our collective bargaining were as follows:

1. KSWU were going to cut the number of English classes taught by foreigners from 60 koma (30 a semester) to 8 next year.

2. Foreign English teachers will be assigned the same number of classes next year.

3. Class sizes will be reduced.

4. The number of English classes will be reduced from 60 koma in 2010 to 40 in 2011.

5. The school does not intend to cut the number of classes taught by senior foreign English teachers who are also KSWU EWA union members.

6. The school will inform the union of any changes to the working conditions of its branch members.

Strike against Unfair Dismissal at Osaka University of Economics

by Rube Redfield, TNC

On April 10 EWAosaka held an unannounced strike (walkout in English) on the campus of Osaka University of Economics, to protest the unlawful dismissal of one of our members. Five OUE branch members, those who were teaching that day, walked out of classes, supported by other EWA members, including our Zen Iincho, Neo Yamashita. In a show of union solidarity, members of the NTT Labour Union also participated in the strike. We brought signs, banners, flags, and a megaphone to make our presence felt.

The strike lasted from 12:30, when we presented OUE with our strike order, until after three. We passed out flyers explaining our reasons for the strike to both students and interested OUE faculty. The strike was well supported by the student body, with students taking turns holding signs, passing out flyers, and even taking turns with the megaphone. Although asked several times by OUE labor committee members to vacate the area, we held fast to our strike. Secret police observed the strike from across the street, but soon returned to their 'house.' The reason for the strike was the refusal of OUE to negotiate any of our demands.

We held four formal negotiation sessions with OUE, but they stonewalled us each time. EWA considers the presented 'reasons' for the dismissal of an educational worker after eight years of service to be unlawful. OUE maintains that the instructor in questions deserved to be terminated because a) several students complained about their final grade, b) OUE did not like the syllabus (course descriptions in English) presented by the instructor, c) the instructor reportedly was not always in his classroom during class, and d) the instructor did not 'improve' his teaching over the course of one semester. There is no data nor compelling reason behind any of the above. Since OUE refused to listen whatsoever to our counter arguments and explanations, we were left with on choice but the strike OUE.

Further action is being contemplated.

Spring Labor Offensive, Shunto 2009

By Greg

The 2009 Shunto Spring Labor Offensive took place on March 24th. The day was beautiful and warm and the schedule was full. I was unfortunately a little late and was worried I would have a hard time finding the first job site. As I got closer and closer I began to hear "washoi washoi". I thought to myself 'Is there a temple or shrine festival nearby?' Imagine my surprise when I came around the corner and was not confronted with people in happi carrying a portable shrine but rather the colorful flags and banners of the various member Unions of the Union Network. As I got closer I realized the 'heave-ho heave-ho' was coming from the rear door of the NTT ------ Building. Apparently management had refused the Union demands to sit down for a negotiation and had locked the front door, however several keen members had stormed the back door. A tug-of-war had developed between NTT staff inside and the Union Network outside with the rear door. As the remaining Union brothers and sisters outside voiced their support several of the management were escorted outside to the street. The Police arrived at this point and after determining that there was nothing unlawful returned to their 'house'. Finally management relented and allowed the union in to express their grievances. The day was certainly off to a festive start!

The day progressed from job site to job site. During breaks someone would inevitably have a cell phone with TV and we would catch up on the WBC Championship game between Japan and Korea.

Two large heavy manufacturing companies Yanmar and Kubota were visited in the morning. Kubota seems to be a regular stop in recent years for it's shameful record not only concerning asbestos but more recently for its treatment of employees, especially its' abuse of short term contract laborers. A large number of these workers are returnees and their families from Brazil and Peru. The issues at Yanmar are similar and include working conditions at several of their plants in Shiga in addition to unfair treatment and termination of contract laborers.

After lunch we split into two groups with EWA heading to the Osaka Prefecture Board of Education and another group was off to Morinomiya to have negotiations with a small company who is bullying and treating unfairly a young female employee. The EWA is protesting various policies of Governor Hashimoto and particularly the decision not to renew the contracts of several EWA members.

All in all a fun and productive day. Plus as an added bonus a couple beers and some good food afterwards. The main thing that impressed me most about the day is that it doesn't matter if you work for a billion dollar multinational like Yanmar or Kubota, a local government like Osaka, or a small business, if you have a fair and honest grievance the EWA together with it's sister unions and members of the Union Network will be there to help and support.

ADVANTAGE of RODO SHINPAN, LABOR TRIBUNAL SYSTEM

by Richard Lemmer

This article is a narrative of my experience using the Labor Tribunal System (rodo shinpan) as a vehicle to address and correct workplace grievances. It begins with a history of labor disputes I encountered as an employee of Chugoku Junior College, discusses EWA intervention, and then describes the workings of the tribunal system as they applied to my individual case.

On February 21, 2000 I signed my first contract with Chugoku Junior College (CJC). It was a one-year contract stating salary with vague language regarding duties and responsibilities as a lecturer in the Department of English Communication. I had already negotiated for a higher salary than that initially offered as I refused to take less money than I had been previously earning at an eikaiwa. I was told verbally that this one-year contract would be renewable with no term limits. It bears mentioning that I raised the issue of competence in Japanese at this time and was assured that my limited abilities did not constitute a problem. At the first faculty meeting in April 2000 I was welcomed along with the new Japanese faculty members.

As promised, the contract was renewed with no problems after one year and then another. It was only when I questioned my working conditions during the 2003 academic year that my battle had begun. During my first three years at CJC I enrolled in a graduate school program in the School of Education at the George Washington University. It was my belief that once successfully completing this I would be eligible for promotion and a salary increase. With this in mind my department chair and I arranged a meeting with the school president. He was adamant that I would never receive a different contract no matter what graduate degrees I earned or what level my Japanese ability reached. So, I joined the EWA in hopes that union intervention would help resolve this problem. Since I had been taking on numerous responsibilities other than teaching I felt it only fair that I at least receive an increase in salary as I watched all associates receive annual increases.

Once the school was made aware of my union membership they scheduled a meeting concerning my contract. However, negotiations were not on the agenda, rather they wanted me to sign the same contract months earlier than in the past to assure themselves time to hire my replacement should I refuse. After these meetings with the chief financial officer it became more apparent than ever that the school had no intention of doing the right thing and had been discriminating against me as a non-Japanese. There could be no other interpretation of the events as I was the only person in the school with any paper contract and the only full time non-Japanese on the faculty. I was informed that Hiraiwa-san, the financial officer, would accept a face-to-face meeting or phone discussion with the EWA, but would not answer any questions in writing. This tactic raised further suspicions concerning the integrity of the school officials. On the advice of the EWA I agreed to sign the same contract again and wait until I completed my graduate school work during the new school year before attempting to negotiate a new contract.

Negotiations never took place and I muddled along with the same old contract until a new president and department chair entered the picture. I was informed that the president wanted to give me a one-year terminal contract. This was decided without his ever having spoken to me. The department chair appealed on my behalf and after consultations with the new president, Matsuhata-san, I was offered a new contract. This contract provided me with a \50,000 a month increase, but was renewable for only three years and then I would be without a job. The money, while appearing to be a large amount, in truth was nearly equal to the increases I would have received over my term of employment had I been treated equally (roughly 2% per year). As if forcing me to leave my job were not enough, the school also wanted me to sign an agreement stating that I would "never request any compensation for termination of my appointment as a lecturer . . ." Once again I though it time for EWA intervention.

Well, with the new school year quickly approaching I signed this revised contract to take effect on April 1, 2007. By doing so I could at least guarantee employment while providing time to fight this insulting new situation. It was in December 2007 that EWA representatives Neo Yamashita, Rube Redfield and myself met with representatives of CJC at the school in Okayama. It was an enlightening session as the school had no intention of negotiating in good faith and clearly had no idea how my contract or position fit into the school's own guidelines. They kept reiterating that I had a different situation than other faculty because I was a native teacher. We left the meeting with a plan for the next session to take place in Osaka. Soon after Neo advised me to seek a judgment through the labor tribunal system (rodo shinpan). He felt that I may not receive a new contract at all and thought this the best course of action. In retrospect, he was certainly correct. I actually did receive and sign the contract but with the help of EWA I also sought legal advice.

Neo researched and found a lawyer for me to contact locally. Shimizu-san, the lawyer, had never appeared before a labor tribunal before but agreed that I was being treated unfairly and agreed to represent me. We had our first meeting on February 13, 2008 and it became apparent that I needed a professional interpreter to attend future meetings with the lawyer and the tribunal proceedings. I was fortunate to locate an extremely competent interpreter who also worked a an official interpreter for the criminal courts. The expenses for her and the lawyer's fees were wise investments. The next meeting, held on March 28, included the interpreter. Here we mapped out the basic strategies and exactly what I would ask from the tribunal. I wanted full senin status just like others, salary based on the school scales and no forced retirement until the age of 63 as is the case for all regular faculty. Basically I wanted equal treatment.

In order to better understand my situation and how it differed from others the lawyer requested that I bring a few other faculty members along with me for a meeting. Fortunately a regular associate professor and a shokutaku professor were kind enough to assist me. I had already provided the lawyer with copies of all my contracts and some salary stubs. The other two professors also provided salary stubs and I gave the lawyer the school book of rules and guidelines. After this meeting the lawyer was convinced that I was being discriminated against but felt that it would be difficult to prove racial discrimination in the limited time allowed in the tribunal meetings. So, we decided on what would be acceptable to me and how to go about obtaining new terms of employment through the tribunal. The strategy formed would ask for terms about retirement age at the first session, status and salary at the second and other points in the final of the three planned tribunal meetings.

So it was a most pleasant shock that in the final meeting just prior to the first tribunal hearing I learned that the school's lawyer had offered to negotiate directly with my lawyer. Considering past lies and threats from school representatives I did take this news with a grain of salt. On June 4, 2008 we had the first tribunal meeting. A civil court judge was in charge, sitting between a representative from labor and one from management. The school was represented by the financial officer and the office manager along with the school lawyer. Both sides stated their positions and the judge asked few questions. The proceedings began with a rant from the financial officer lying about how when I was hired I told the school I never anticipated staying more than a year or two. I countered with the fact that he had been hired two years after me so he could not have known what I said. He once again said I was being treated differently because I was a native teacher. My lawyer intervened and said that we had an agreement and should it should be presented. The judge agreed and put an end to the nonsense.

It was then that he school proposed a settlement offer which would make me a senin kyoushi and stated I would be provided with one months salary as a retirement payout when I finished my tenure. Mr. Hiraiwa stated that it would, however, take time for the committee of full professors (kyojyukai) to convene and vote on accepting me as a senin kyoushi. He said this process could take a few months. Wishing to resolve this as quickly as possible, I said that this was a delaying tactic since the entire faculty met on a monthly basis. It appears that Mr. Hiraiwa was including the phantom faculty who have been hired for a newly created four-year faculty which was only in its second year. This meant that they were not necessarily in Okayama most of the time.

The entire session lasted less than an hour. In the end I agreed to the terms of salary and tenure but said that we would need further talks about retirement payments. Mr. Shimizu said that we would seek eight months salary as a retirement payout. The most surprising thing to me was the fact that everything had been arranged behind the scenes prior to the actual tribunal hearing, and the civil court judge who was the leader of the proceedings had already been informed of the tentative agreement. The settlement was a compromise to the extent that I would receive this new status and salary from April 1, 2008 and there would be no retroactive payments. There was no clear reason provided as to why I had fit into the slot of the salary scale that I did, but I was content to see those who had deceived me all along forced to act properly. Perhaps I could have received retroactive payments but that would have involved a civil court trial and this would be a lengthy and costly process with no guaranteed outcome. Considering that I only had three years employment remaining, I though the tribunal to be the better option.

Between the tribunal hearings, the committee of professors met. At the meeting the same school president who had wanted me to leave after one year praised my contributions to the school and asked the professors to suspend a vote and accept me in the new position so long as no one opposed the action. And that is what happened.

The second hearing took place on July 9, 2008. Once again disagreements had been resolved by the two lawyers prior to the hearing. I had met with Mr. Shimizu and we decided to actually ask for six months salary as a retirement pay out and decided to accept three months. At the time it seemed like a good compromise to me as going into the initial tribunal hearing I had never anticipated any retirement payment. With all major problems settled, Mr. Hiraiwa stated that I was to receive pro-rated salary adjustments for the period between April 1 and July along with the bonus paid to all other faculty in June. The deadline for this payment would be July 31. I agreed to this condition and to my relief the tribunal was over after only two meetings.

I can't possibly say that this process is indicative of the rodo shinpan system in general. It appears that the attitude of the participants and the willingness to come to terms is a major factor in how things proceed. In my case it seems that the school wished to dispense with the matter as quickly and quietly as possible. As is the case with many small private schools in Japan, it has been experiencing enrollment problems and most likely wanted to avoid any negative publicity. From my own experience and research into the rodo shinpan system I believe it to be a very good method for resolving labor disputes as the hearings are conducted in a timely fashion without extreme costs. I say this with two caveats. The results are binding when agreed upon by both parties, yet there have been cases where the school has not lived up to the terms of the agreement. Since the system is still relatively new, it remains to be seen how long it will take and what is involved in forcing compliance with tribunal decisions. The second reservation involves the nature of the dispute. In order to effectively make use of the rodo shinpan system the agenda must be limited to problems that can be addressed and resolved in three meetings. Therefore they need to be unambiguous. It should also be stated that only an individual employee, not a union or other representative, may file grievances with the labor tribunal. I do think that others can benefit from using this system when other forms of negotiations have failed and I strongly recommend its use.