Job Discussion Forums

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Fion,

Is that figure right? Only 70,000 yen/month? Averaged out over the year, that's pretty low. Heck, even for a single month, that's barely enough to pay for rent and instant ramen (let alone prove to immigration that you had enough to live on). Was this the only figure you supplied on your wages? If so, it is an astoundingly low figure, and less than half of the lowest I have heard to date.

kovac · Joined: 12 Apr 2003 Posts: 78

After a happy spell of working for unmentionable English school, I was recently slapped with a not verbal, written but FINAL warning for missing one day of training, the manager handing out the warning went on to outline that if dismissed his company would refuse to sign my letter of release making it "impossible" in his words to seek further employment in Japan...Is this true ? From what I gather from previous postings a new sponser is to be attained but...without release...how does one go about gaining a new sponser ???

G Cthulhu · Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2003 8:19 pm Post subject: Re: Letter of Release

kovac · Joined: 12 Apr 2003 Posts: 78

Can we join a union out here !?!?

Im all for that milarky...workers unite !

Any recommendations ?

Wolf · Joined: 10 May 2003 Posts: 1245 Location: Middle Earth

You can join a union. In theory your rights to do so are protected by Japanese law. In practice it may or may not be a problem with your emloyer (people have been fired in the past for it, but the union of course fights this.)

You're in Chiba? I'm not sure of the unions in the Kanto region; but here's one I do know:

http://www.generalunion.org

I'm sure a simple net search (or even emailing the General Union) would turn up a the unions that represent expat EFL teachers in the Kanto area.

kovac · Joined: 12 Apr 2003 Posts: 78

Thanks for the reply I will look into this ASAP....Has anybody else found that being a foreign worker in an other country, basic employement rights are kept very much in the dark ?

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

Kovac,
I`d say that most countries in Asia keep foreign workers in the dark regarding their rights. Japan is much better than most for equality. In Korea, foreign workers have almost no rights and the employer has all the leverage. Only contracts written in Korean are valid, so the English version you see may not be the same as the Korean version you signed.

shmooj · Joined: 11 Sep 2003 Posts: 1758 Location: Seoul, ROK

Kovac, head over to the Middle East forum if you want to see people in the dark. Seems that the system is much more opaque than Japan over there.