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lajzar
Joined: 09 Feb 2003
Posts: 647
Location: Saitama-ken, Japan
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 Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:54 pm Post subject: ALT Companies |
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Here's a short list...
Altia Central (Nagoya)
Interac
RCS (Saitama)
Shane Language Services (Tokyo)
W5
Are there any more that send teachers to elem/JH schools? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:56 pm Post subject: Re: ALT Companies |
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| lajzar wrote: |
Here's a short list...
Altia Central (Nagoya)
Interac
RCS (Saitama)
Shane Language Services (Tokyo)
W5
Are there any more that send teachers to elem/JH schools? |
Westgate
Ziac/Zenken |
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wangtesol
Joined: 24 May 2005
Posts: 280
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| Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:17 pm Post subject: illegal ALT companies |
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And have any of these reassured migrant education workers that they are no longer using illegal gyomu itaku contracts? See the "Sticky" here at Dave's ESL Cafe on illegal ALT jobs
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/viewtopic.php?t=27353 |
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yamanote senbei
Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435
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| Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 11:17 pm Post subject: |
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ABC Plus
Berkeley House
DIC
Global Partners
Heart English School
Korakuen English Centre
TRILS
WYS |
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silent-noise
Joined: 14 Jun 2005
Posts: 37
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:27 am Post subject: |
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| do you have to be in japan to apply for those schools, or do they do overseas recruiting as well? |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 4:42 am Post subject: |
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| silent-noise wrote: |
| do you have to be in japan to apply for those schools, or do they do overseas recruiting as well? |
Interac and Shane, as far as I know recruit teachers who are overseas. The others require Japanese residency and/or a valid visa. |
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yamanote senbei
Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:02 am Post subject: |
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| silent-noise wrote: |
| do you have to be in japan to apply for those schools, or do they do overseas recruiting as well? |
Most, if not all of them, are breaking the law and shouldn't even exist in the first place. Why would someone want to work for such an employer? |
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tokyorabbit
Joined: 15 Feb 2004
Posts: 30
Location: Tokyo, Japan
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 6:51 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Most, if not all of them, are breaking the law and shouldn't even exist in the first place. Why would someone want to work for such an employer? |
I`m interested in more info about your comment. Can you explain why they are breaking the law and how that would affect the teacher working for them or teachers working in Japan in general?
I keep hearing comments like this and I want to understand what you are talking about. The ALT seems like a good deal (from an eikawa teacher`s perspective): normal working hours, generous vacation time, the chance to use Japanese at work, no need to push overpriced textbooks, etc. It also seems like the average ALT stays at their job longer than the average "Big 4" instructor.
On the other hand, if they are doing something illegal or unethical, I would like to know about it. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Posts: 4672
Location: Western Japan
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| Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 7:27 am Post subject: |
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| tokyorabbit wrote: |
| On the other hand, if they are doing something illegal or unethical, I would like to know about it. |
A Thumbnail Sketch of the Private ALT System in Japan
In 1999, Dispatch Law was deregulated to allow dispatch companies to enter into other fields of work aside from the traditional industry of manufacturing. Education was one of these fields. Since then more and more local boards of education have turned to private ALT dispatching firms rather than using the JET program. In 2005, the Ministry of Education reported at shunto meetings that there are approximately 1500 ALTs from private dispatching companies teaching in Japan.
However, many of the contracts that local boards of education have signed with these companies are illegal gyomu itaku (service) contracts. These contracts violate Edcuation Law since the principal must be in charge of the teachers at his/her school, yet with such contracts the company is actually in charge, not the principal.
Some companies do have dispatch licenses, yet they may still sign an illegal gyomu itaku contract with the local board of education. In order to find out if your city is using illegal contracts, you can ask your local city hall to see the contracts. It is the right of any resident (non-Japanese or Japanese) to see these contracts.
In February 2005 a notice went out from the Ministry of Education to prefectural boards of education to advise them to tell local boards of education to hire ALTs directly and not to use illegal gyomu itaku contracts which violate Education Law.
Private Dispatch Companies
Interac is by far the largest company in the private ALT business and the industry leader with hundreds of ALTs throughout Japan. As of April 2005, they still have not been automatically placing their ALTs into the national health insurance and pension program (shakkai hoken) which is required by law. In May 2005, the Union officially declared a branch at Interac.
Often, smaller companies who do not have work rules, a properly selected employee's representative, and who otherwise violate Labor Standards Law continue to do business cheaply and undercut other bidders for ALT contracts, driving down the monthly salary from the Ministry of Justice's standard of 250,000 yen a month. The Union has fostered improvements for ALT companies such as Heart Corporation, TRILS and RCS, among others.
Local Boards of Education
The Union has been involved with several boards of education in the Kanto area including the Tokyo Board of Education, the Koga (in Ibaraki) Board of Education and the Fukaya (in Saitama) Board of Education. In the case versus the Tokyo Board of Education, the Union won a decision stating that the concerned directly hired ALTs were indeed legally classified as "workers" (rodosha) and not simply contractors. Further victories were achieved through the private companies that had contracts with the Koga and Fukaya boards of education.
First, a primer on the matter:
Recently, the National Union of General Workers (NUGW) has been in contact with numerous boards of education (BoE) in the Kansai, Kanto, Kyushu, and Tokai regions concerning their employment practices regarding Assistant English Teachers (AETs). Boards of Education currently hire teachers in three ways: direct employment (DE), along with two types of dispatch, HAKEN and ININ (illegal).
What's the difference?
Direct Employment means that the BoE hires you, pays you, and controls your workday. This is the ideal situation, because teachers know exactly where they stand in regards to their employment.
HAKEN
- Your employer is not the BoE, even though they control your work. You are hired by private company X which sends you to the BoE: X hires you and pays your salary, and the BoE trains you and directs your work.
ININ (GYOMU ITAKU KEIYAKU)
- The BoE is neither your employer, nor do they control your work. In this case X hires you, pays you, trains you, and controls your work: the BoE is simply the work location.
To make things even worse, a growing number of dispatch companies are now treating their employees as private companies - subcontractors. This kind of work is illegal and the dispatch companies are doing this only in order to deprive teachers of their full rights as employees under the labour laws.
So why does the difference matter?
You may be thinking, 'As long as I'm getting paid, why does it matter how I'm employed as long as I have a job and get my salary?' What many people don't see is that the way you're employed can have a dramatic impact on your employment security.
Let's have a look at the categories one by one:
Direct Employment
- There is no misunderstanding of who the employer is, and usually you are made aware of workplace regulations. Also, there is no argument about who the union should negotiate with, as there is only one possible employer. Job losses appear to be fewer and it's easier to negotiate if job losses do occur.
HAKEN
- Under this system, there may be different expectations on you because in a sense you have two bosses. In order to dispatch a teacher under the HAKEN system, the dispatching company must have a special license. The union believes that this is the only legal kind of dispatch allowed to school boards and universities (see below). Also, because this is supposed to be a temporary placement, after one year (three years as of January 1, 2004) the school board is required to stop using a dispatch agency and either make the job a direct hire or abolish the job itself. This is to ensure that schools don't keep people temporary forever. Many boards have disregarded this one year limit or claim that the dispatch is not HAKEN. The Osaka Prefectural Board's plan was to use HAKEN forever by leaving a gap between employment terms so that they could claim the jobs were temporary. This also leads to employment insecurity as the dispatch contracts need to be renewed each year. If your present employer loses the contract with the school board, you are out of a job.
ININ (ILLEGAL GYOMU ITAKU KEIYAKU)
- According to the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education, this system is illegal in any school board as it is a violation of the Education Law which does not allow teachers who are not under the control of the board of education to work in a school. Despite this, many school boards use this method as there is no limit on the length of time a teacher can be dispatched for (see below). This kind of employment is extremely insecure, as the dispatch contracts need to be renewed each year. If your present employer loses the school board contract, again, you are out of a job.
Diet Hearing on Foreign Workers
Hearing at the Diet with union and non-union foreign workers on human rights and labor law abuses focuses on ALT system woes.
(Tokyo, April 15) Union and non-union foreign workers gathered for a hearing at the Diet to voice their stories of human rights and labor law abuses in Japan to officials from the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry and Democratic Party House of Representatives Member Kazuo Inoue.
This was a follow-up to a similar hearing held last Dec. 3, 2004 with representatives from the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and the House of Representatives. Deputy Secretary General of the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu, Louis Carlet, called attention to systemic problems that foreign workers face in comparison to their Japanese counterparts, "The union receives far more unfair dismissal cases regarding foreigners than Japanese."
The Ministry of Education heard personal accounts involving assistant language teachers (ALTs). Some have been working on gyomu itaku contracts which the Ministry deemed to be illegal and notified prefectural Boards of Education in February 2005 to instruct local boards of education not to use the gyomu itaku scheme and to hire through appropriate channels.
The gyomu itaku contracts have plagued the ALT system since 1999 when private dispatching companies were allowed to outsource ALTs to local boards of education. However, many local boards of education have not required that the dispatching company to actually hold a dispatching lic | | |
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