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victory7
Joined: 22 Mar 2016
Posts: 68
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 Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 2:01 am Post subject: |
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| Lamarr wrote: |
| Those teachers I mentioned above had all been working together at this place for several years, so that gave them some extra power and leverage to force the hand of the school-owner. He'd actually reduced the teachers' wages, as he was looking to sell the school and wanted to make it look more attractive to a buyer. He also shelved the 20 lessons minimum per week that they'd been guaranteed in previous contracts. I think they did the right thing in that situation, to fight back against the guy and maintain a bit of dignity (this school eventually went bankrupt about 6 months later). |
Yep, dirtbags can't be trusted. Your old school sounds like the one I've been hearing about for a few months now. It's got branches in Tokyo, it's not Gaba, Shane or Linguaphone. I had the chance to hear first-hand from a few of the teachers as my friend knows one of them. About 10 yrs ago I had some labor issues in work (was successful in nailing the owner of the place) and these teachers were and are getting shafted'
The school changed hands this year, the new people came in and since then the teachers have had their payday changed to a later date, had their contracts thrown out and were given new short ones to sign. Those are only two of the problems. They were told the old contracts were 'illegal' but they weren't. Immigration accepted the old one. From what I was told they weren't given any real notice about the plan to can the contracts and they were suddenly told they had to sign.
Contracts for native English speakers can have illegal clauses but that aint make the agreement the teacher has with the employer to work 'illegal'. The problem for these teachers is they were suddenly given the new contract and obviously like everybody working, they had to think of how they were going to pay the bills.
I heard most of them signed it. Based on what I heard and could verify, the school should have its ass handed to it but legal action in Japan takes time, teachers need money esp in a foreign country, and ditrbag schools play on all of this and more. To make dirtbags like this worse, they don't pay a basic salary. Anybody anywhere who is working at a job that guarantees nothing unless a student asks for you, should quit as soon as you can. |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 9:19 pm Post subject: |
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The owner of this particular school actually announced he was reducing the staff pay and conditions in late February. This was calculated so that none of the teachers would jump ship and find new jobs at the beginning of the academic year in April (which is the main period for contracts starting), as most places would have already done their hiring for April by the end of February. It was disgusting actually. The owner was rumoured to have links with far-right groups and the mob.
The only vague morsel of credit I could give the owner was that he actually called a meeting in which he explained things to the full-time staff (I was only part-time so didn't attend). He apparently sat there, head bowed, while the regular instructors tore him a new one. I think I'd have to credit the instructors too that nobody punched him. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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[quote="Lamarr"]
| rxk22 wrote: |
If you run a Google search for "Tokyo Labor Standards Office", some useful information comes up about Labor Law in Japan as well. |
I've known many people who have complained to the LB in Chiba, and nothing has happened. For things like fining you for calling out. Or making you work on days off for free. The board did nothing there. |
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Lamarr
Joined: 27 Sep 2010
Posts: 190
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2016 11:42 pm Post subject: |
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| I really don't know about other Labor Bureaus. It does sound a bit odd that the ones in Chiba and Kanagawa don't do anything, but the one in Tokyo is a lot more active in advising on and pursuing complaints. Whether it's because it's the capital and there are a lot more companies and people working there, and they've got more of a reputation to live up to, I don't know. Though you'd have thought that, with the higher volume of complaints they must get, that might burden them and slow them down, but perhaps not. |
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rxk22
Joined: 19 May 2010
Posts: 1629
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| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2016 1:54 am Post subject: |
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I have no idea. Seems that the BoE is stronger in different areas than others. I find it interesting that Japan prides it's self on consistency, yet is often inconsistent when it comes to things like labor law.
I think Chiba's labor board is as about as worthless as can be. I don't look into it, but I have never heard of them actually ever helping. Even when there are clearly illegal activities |
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