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46-599: As of the 2020 executive elections the union chair is Asari Toshiaki and general secretary is Dennis Tesolat who reverted to this position after six years as chair. The General Union is under the umbrella of the National Union of General Workers , which is itself part of the National Trade Union Council (Zenrokyo) one of the three major trade union federations in Japan . With the founding of

92-688: A branch to fight contract renewals. The union was able to save all the members' jobs. In mid 1995 union members at GEOS started organising a union branch. The branch was declared to the company on 7 November 1995. Due to pressure from the General Union, in March 2005, the Japanese Government's Social Insurance Agency began to investigate English language schools in Japan for non-payment of Social Insurance ( 社会保険 , , Shakai Hoken ) . In general, non-enrollment of full-time employees

138-621: A company that dispatches teachers to various companies and public schools, was declared on May 25, 1993. A number of teachers who wanted to improve conditions joined the GU. Negotiations were not fruitful and the union went to dispute mode, with strikes, picketing, and the dispute received a large amount of press coverage. In 2007 the GU surveyed boards of education in Osaka prefecture, and found that 23 of them were employing Assistant Language Teachers through illegal itaku contracts. The union reported this to

184-533: A drug test. After Nova's bankruptcy, the GU sought Sahashi 's indictment over non-payment of wages. The Osaka prosecutor's office declined to do so, so the GU appealed to the prosecutor's auditors, who found the lack of indictment "unjust". After the March 11th 2011 earthquake , when embassies were urging their citizens to evacuate, Nova pressured instructors to move to Tokyo or have allowances cut. The GU members at one Nova branch protested and negotiated with Nova and

230-468: A memo which states that workers who work three-quarters of a full-time schedule should be enrolled in shakai hoken. The JPS has applied this internal bureaucratic guideline to avoid enrolling workers, forcing the workers to pay such costs by themselves. The JPS also refused to enroll them citing the three-quarter guideline. The member, with the support of the GU, has now sued the JPS for negligence in not following

276-455: A number of improvements for teachers including: Unemployment Insurance and Workers Accident Compensation Insurance enrollment for MG teachers. Health and Pension Insurance (shakai hoken) enrollment for those who work over 30 hours per week. Paid holidays for MG and per lesson teachers. Premium pay of 25% overtime and 35% for work on a set rest day. The right to refuse work on set rest days or national holidays. A pre-consultation agreement with

322-602: A survey to all the city boards of education in Aichi prefecture. 16 replied that they used teachers on itaku contracts. On October 19, 2009, the GU sued Interac at the Osaka Labor Commission , submitted documents to the Aichi labor bureau, and visited the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education to inform the board of education that it was allowing illegal itaku contracts, the use of which breached

368-459: A wide array of other subjects for study. Osaka Gakuin University was founded in 1963, from the previous establishment, Kansai Kenri Senmon Gakko. The school was subsequently refurbished and expanded during the 1990s. Founder Taneo Shirai stated that Osaka Gakuin University seeks to develop individuals of both practical ability and broad vision, who can serve society at large and contribute to

414-483: Is illegal in Japan—the Health Insurance Law and Employees' Pension Law stipulate that companies must enroll all workers who have been in Japan for over two months in both the health insurance and pension systems, regardless of nationality. Shakai Hoken cover for employees also includes sickness and injury allowance. The burden of payment is split between employer and employee, with each paying about half

460-416: Is now conducted during working hours (or else paid at overtime rates). From April 2013 teachers have the right to become seishain (permanent employees). Two employees (office staff) were promoted to seishain in 2013. On July 29, 2013 the GU and ECC signed a collective agreement that GU members would always have their contracts renewed unless there were exceptional circumstances. The GU branch of Interac ,

506-1018: The Private Language Industry Sector . This area of the GU is focused on workers in factories and other industrial employment. It consists of the General Branch, the South American Branch, and the Shinobu Foods Branch. The South American branch is currently active at many workplaces including Fuso and Daisen Kosakusho. This area of the GU is focused on workers employed in schools and universities. The GU has members at many workplaces, including Ashiya Gakuen High School, Himeji Dokkyo University , Kansai Gaidai University , Kun'ei High School, Osaka Gaigo, Ritsumeikan University , Kobe Shoin Women's University , and Osaka University . This area of

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552-412: The 18 September visit by NOVA executive officer, Anders Lundqvist, to apologize for the company's policy. The policy though abandoned would lead to later conflict as the company refused to remove the drug testing stipulation from the employment contract. The General Union founded more union branches in this year. On 17 May the union's Nichibei Eigo Gakuin branch was formed at its first collective agreement

598-518: The GU branch of the Eikaiwa Nova being founded on September 6, 1994. At the same time there was also a NUGW Nova branch founded in Kanto. The Osaka Bar Association wrote an opinion that the policy was a violation of the teachers' right to privacy. Nova claimed consent forms had been received from more than 90 percent of employees. According to the union, no instructors were ever required to take

644-467: The GU is focused on the teaching of language in the private sector, including workers at eikaiwas and working as ALTs . Amongst other companies it has members at Berlitz Japan , Interac , Gaba , Nova , OTC, Epion , the British Council , ECC , Panasonic Excel International, Coco Juku and Peppy Kids Club . The GU branch of Berlitz Japan was founded in 1993, and since that time has won

690-564: The General Union had already organized a union branch at ELC Junior among female Japanese teachers. In May, the union's first foreign member had joined from HAL English School regarding a dispute with wages. By its founding the General Union had already started to establish itself among language school teachers and foreign language teachers. During its first year the union also became involved with study groups for civil servants' employment rights, and established links with other immigrant groups namely Asian Friends (a joint employment problems hotline

736-601: The Health Insurance Law and the Employees' Pension Law. The first hearing was held in the Tokyo District Court on April 13, 2012. On March 20, 2015, the court ruled that there was no law that denied shakai hoken enrolment based on working hours, and that the worker in question had in any case been working over the limit for mandatory enrolment so it was illegal that he was not enrolled at that

782-928: The National Union of General Workers, Tokyo (also known as Tokyo Union), which represents parts of Tokyo and Saitama Prefecture, the General Union , headquartered in Osaka , representing Western Japan, and the Fukuoka General Union, representing Kyūshū . The union works to raise awareness of problems faced by all workers in Japan, including foreign/ migrant workers , to improve members' working conditions and bargaining power and to inform members of their rights under Japanese labour law. Activities include strikes, rallies and leafleting, filing injunctions and arguing cases at Labour Commissions and District Courts on issues such as fixed-term contracts,

828-585: The Osaka Labor Bureau and the boards of education were ordered to stop. 2009 was a busy year for the GU Interac branch. Interac teachers working at Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture, approached the local board of education. They sought to be hired directly, rather than being employed by Interac and dispatched. The board of education refused the teachers, who then approached the GU. The GU took up

874-473: The Osaka Zenrokyo (a local area affiliated to Zenrokyo, National Trade Union Council) on 2 February 1991, it was decided that a general union type union was necessary to help both individual workers and groups of otherwise unorganized workers deal with their employment problems. On 12 June 1991, the General Union was founded at a meeting at Apio Osaka. During the preparatory period prior to the founding

920-476: The allowances were repaid. In August 2013 Nova announced that they were non-renewing the contract of a teacher, in effect firing him. The teacher had a medical condition that made commuting difficult, but had never caused him to be late or affected his work. Previously the company had reduced his hours for two years in a row, which had resulted in him being removed from the Japanese government social insurance. As

966-467: The case on their behalf, and after threats of losing their jobs and attempts to evict teachers from city-provided accommodation, the GU won direct hire for 4 out of 7 members from the Kurashiki board of education, and the other three members got dispatch positions in other areas in Okayama. The GU also demanded that Interac enroll all its teachers in unemployment insurance . In Autumn 2009 the GU sent

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1012-453: The company and gained continued employment at 100% payment of salary while negotiations were ongoing. In 1994, after two Nova instructors were arrested on drug charges in August and September, Nova asked all 3,100 instructors to sign an agreement to have a mandatory drug test, the results of which would be reported to the police. The drug test only applied to foreign staff. This action led to

1058-405: The company should directly pay for the hotel rather than requiring the teacher to do so and then reimbursing them. The company immediately involved a lawyer, who responded to the union, and negotiations were held on August 6, 2012, with the company to respond to the union's demands in writing by August 17, 2012 The union subsequently announced that the company had agreed to prepay for hotels when it

1104-657: The dispatch law and the employment security law. In response to the Labor Commission case brought by the GU against Interac, on July 26, 2010 the Osaka Labor Commission ruled that Interac had committed an unfair labor practice by refusing to hold collective bargaining with the union. As a result, Interac was ordered to hand-deliver an apology to the union, and banned from bidding on government projects in Osaka Prefecture. Interac appealed

1150-452: The end of 1993 the union claimed 140 members, almost half of whom were Japanese, and two more language school branches; Osaka YMCA and Berlitz. 1994 saw the bankruptcies of two language schools in Japan. On 25 March Attony went bankrupt and teachers formed a General Union branch in order to deal with their lost wages. The General Union's experience with Attony was then used to help teachers at Bilingual which went bankrupt on 25 July. These were

1196-458: The fact that Japanese teachers, who are the majority of Peppy's teaching staff, were not enrolled in unemployment insurance, and also work longer hours than the foreign staff. A new confidentiality agreement was proposed which the union saw as an attempt to "intimidate JTs [Japanese Teachers] and put them in their place". Subsequently the company non-renewed the chair of the GU union branch, after eight years of employment. The company claimed that he

1242-581: The first of more bankruptcies that would follow in the 90s and ending with the major NOVA bankruptcy in 2007. Another major event of 1994 in the language teaching industry was the September arrest of a NOVA teacher for possession of marijuana. This led the school to demand the drug testing of all its foreign employees. On 6 September, the General Union NOVA branch was declared to the company. Union members refused to be drug tested which led to

1288-540: The government had turned down the request for enrolment. After a number of incidents where union members were harassed by students in their workplaces, in 2013 the union appointed both male and female sexual harassment officers to be a contact point for those who have suffered sexual harassment. The general union consists of three main areas, the Industrial and Commercial Sector , the Schools and Colleges Sector , and

1334-547: The monthly premium amount. The General Union (Osaka) has official consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). A GU member working a 29.5-hour-per-week contract at an ALT dispatch agency requested the Japan Pension Service to enroll them in shakai hoken (health insurance and pension) after their company refused to do so. The Japan Pension Service has

1380-594: The next month. In 2014 a Coco Juku employee who was resigning requested his pay within the seven days mandated by law, and was refused. The General Union became involved and made contact with Nichii Gakkan , the parent company of Coco Juku. Nichii Gakkan ordered Coco Juku to make the payment within the seven days, which the company did. After the closing down of the company was announced in early 2019, instructors teaching English were offered either three months severance package or to be transferred to Gaba Corporation, also owned by Nichii Gakkan. The General Union negotiated with

1426-710: The non-enrollment of employees into Social Insurance, illegal outsourcing of Assistant Language Teachers by public schools, and unfair dismissals due to one-year contracts. Osaka Gakuin University Osaka Gakuin University (大阪学院大学, Ōsaka Gakuin Daigaku ), also known as Osaka Graduate University (OGU), is a mid-sized, mid-level private liberal arts university located in Suita , Osaka Prefecture , Japan. The university focuses on law, economics, and international studies, but still provides

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1472-589: The ruling to the Central Labor Commission in Tokyo, and on February 28, 2011 a settlement was brokered between Interac and the GU. In July 2012 the GU founded a branch at Peppy Kids Club . The branch was formally declared to the company, and demands made for the working rules to be available to all staff, an explanation of how the company ensures all staff are enrolled in unemployment insurance , and that when teachers are sent on business trips, that

1518-513: The smallest of the three national labour federations in Japan . As of September 2010 the NUGW had around 7000 members. The NUGW acts as an umbrella organization encompassing roughly 40 autonomous general unions and trade unions, including the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu (often referred to as simply Nambu ), a union which represents workers in southern Tokyo and Eastern Japan;

1564-541: The teacher's condition was made worse by stress, he didn't pursue this. After he was non-renewed, the GU protested strenuously, meeting company representatives on August 21. Union representatives criticised the Nova for a "lack of humanity" and raised the prospect of demonstrations over the issue. During the meeting Nova withdrew the non-renewal. The GU branch of the Osaka-based English conversation school ECC

1610-414: The union before terminating, transferring or changing the working conditions of any union member. Resolving various grievances dealing with dismissals, health insurance, unfair treatment of teachers. Article 23 of Japan's Labor Standards Act states that when a worker completes work for an employer their final payment should be paid within seven days. Coco Juku does not follow this rule and pays employees

1656-401: The union's first strike. In 1993 the GU's first major language school branches were formed. Union members participated in the 1993 Shunto . One picketed employer was IES regarding a Canadian English teacher who was dismissed. By the end of August the union claimed 100 members and had four workplace branches. One branch consisted of foreign instructors working for Interac . The Interac Branch

1702-580: The union, and the GU filed an unfair labor practice with the Osaka Labor Relations Commission over the company's breaches of the Trade Union Act of 1949 . The union advised the company that they planned to push ahead with strike action, and the company counteracted by removing the branch chair from the teaching schedule, and began calling other teachers wanting to know details of strikes, which intimidated teachers and

1748-613: Was a need for a larger union presence in English language schools the General Union held two public meetings for foreign teachers. On 23 March 1992 the first meeting signed up 60 new members and was reported widely in the press. 1992 also brought the first non-English speaking foreign workers to the union. The union represented Filipino workers at Tanaka Metal Works and Brazilian dispatch workers in Gunma at Takechi Rubber. The General Union's first branch representing foreign university teachers

1794-437: Was another breach of trade union law. National Union of General Workers (Zenrokyo) The National Union of General Workers (NUGW) is the shortened, English title of the National Union of General Workers National Council ( 全国一般労働組合全国協議会 Zenkoku Ippan Roudou Kumiai Zenkoku Kyogikai ), a national labour union council established in 1991. NUGW is affiliated to the National Trade Union Council (全国労働組合連絡協議会 Zenrokyo ) ,

1840-427: Was declared on February 26, 1996. Since then the union has achieved quite a few things at ECC, including English pay slips, flexible paid holidays, unemployment insurance , health and pension insurance, a toll-free number for Kinki district sub-teachers, improved emergency evacuation procedures, a pre-consultation agreement to consult with the union before making changes that affect union members, and mandatory training

1886-405: Was fired for poor performance and that he "failed to improve as a teacher", but according to the union the teachers evaluations had been in the 96-97% range so this reason was simply a pretext and the real reason for the dismissal was union busting . The union demanded that the firing be revoked, with a deadline of November 8, 2012, but the company declined to do so. This led other teachers to join

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1932-462: Was formed in May and by August had already gone on strike against unfair labour practices regarding the dismissal of a union member. The company later withdrew the dismissal and the strike was won. This first strike at Interac would mark the beginning of a long dispute between the union and the company and would give the union its first major nationwide coverage on prime time television and newspapers. By

1978-426: Was founded at Hannan University. The union's intervention prevented the university from lowering the per class rate for teachers. In what would become a precursor to the union's campaigns over social insurance in the late 1990s and throughout 2000, the union held a seminar titled, "Social Insurance and Tax for foreigners" on 8 November 1992. A strike winning two months' bonus at ELC Junior on 17 July 1992 also marked

2024-431: Was necessary for teachers to stay in them for one or two nights. The company claimed this was always official policy nationwide and that where it did not happen, it was a result of communication errors between head office and a branch office. The union also announced that the company would now reimburse teachers for receipts even when there were small errors with the company name written on the receipt. The union highlighted

2070-549: Was run on 2 and 3 September) and with RINK (Rights of Immigrants Network in Kansai) in which the General Union was a founding organization. While the union's attempts to establish itself among civil servants did not bear fruit, the union's work with foreign language teachers continued to expand. In 1991, the union also dealt with employment problems at Neverland English School (paid holidays, unpaid wages), OIC (Oxford), and IES (International Educational Services). Believing that there

2116-465: Was secured. In the university sector the General Union started its long battle against contract renewal limits. On 31 March a union member was fired by Osaka Gakuin University after three-year contract limits were opposed. The union's battle went to the Supreme Court of Japan and was featured in a Newsweek article. Seven teachers at Otemon Gakuin University also joined the university and formed

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