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wangtesol
Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 280
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:32 am Post subject: please post labor dispute updates here |
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I see that the teachers union at Berlitz has won their fight against Berlitz.
You can read about it here
http://begunto.tripod.com/begunto/
And if anybody has any news they could share about any other labour disputes they know of, could you post it here. |
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JimDunlop2

Joined: 31 Jan 2003 Posts: 2286 Location: Japan
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:17 pm Post subject: |
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Absolutely.... Smelling like a brewery (or distillery) is grounds for dismissal back home, union or not.
We have a hard enough time getting our legitimate demands met, without having to include shenanigans like this into it. |
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Sage

Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 144 Location: Iwate no inaka!
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 2:25 pm Post subject: |
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The union is fighting to make it okay to come to work reeking of booze and vomit?
That's exactly why unions suck the hard a$$. Seriously! Trying to protect teachers that SHOULD be fired! HA! I say drag the sorry drunks out back and shoot em. What disrespectful jerks people must be to come to work spelling of booze.
Oh, and a union is something that should protect the workers from the company and not something that should be trying to screw the company over.
Oh, I'm really annoyed now. Grr..................................
PS: Grats on winning your pay dispute! That's something the union should be fighting for. Indeed. |
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PAULH
Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan
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Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2005 3:12 pm Post subject: |
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JimDunlop2 wrote: |
Absolutely.... Smelling like a brewery (or distillery) is grounds for dismissal back home, union or not.
We have a hard enough time getting our legitimate demands met, without having to include shenanigans like this into it. |
heard a story years ago of a teacher who used to bring a cup of oolong tea into class at a university. Some one asked what he was drinking and he said Jack Daniels (whisky) as a joke. Some kid reported him to the student office and he was sacked the same day. Schools are very skittish about public drunkeness.
Believe it... or not.
PS Guy lost his job last year at Osaka MM center for drinking chuhais during class and propositioning students. |
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wangtesol
Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 280
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:10 pm Post subject: mouth wash |
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The cause for concern was the phrase "smelling of alcohol."
So, what smells of alcohol? Not just alcohol but some mouth washes, some medications, etc... Would you want to be fired because the manager has it in for you and nails you for have minty-fresh but alcohol smelling breath?
This vague phrase would have allowed management another way to harass and dismiss employess without just cause. No one is arguing that drunkenness be tolerated at the workplace.
Berlitz is heartless. Berlitz Japan actually recently unfairly dismissed a female employee who was in a woman's shelter after she left her abusive husband. He had been calling up her workplace to further harass her, and Berlitz decided that was not good for business so she was fired.
It is the responsibility of management to create work rules and contracts that are not ambiguous, but many managers are experts at creating ambiguous language which will allow for the widest ranging excuses for pawa hawa (power harassment). |
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wangtesol
Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 280
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:33 pm Post subject: RCS Corporation |
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from Suntin on the "RCS Corporation" threa with more violations of RCS documented there...
A much thought about warning to people who might be thinking of coming to Japan. The RCS corporation of Saitama is to be avoided at all costs.
It's the usual story from the shady side of ELT from what I hear about other bad firms.
-Arrive expecting visa to find it hasnt even been applied for.
-Overcharging for rental cars, accomodation etc
-They charge customers travel expenses but don't pay them to teachers.
-Whatever else you hear they have no thought for the teachers who work for them, I was fined heavily for becoming ill and missing 5 days in a month despite doctors confirmation I was unfit for work. (part of the cause was recieving less than my 60k rent for 2 months running as "salary")
-After challenging them over deductions from my salary I was fired a month later over made up offences and even with school records on my side and lack of evidence on their part I was fined half a months salary and told not to speak with the school again.
They were caught out defrauding their clients in my area and I believe they have lost many schools as a result of this and ALTs leaving after only a few months, they are currently trying to gain new schools -so if you see that orange envelope on your school's desk be sure to pass this warning along.
Myself I have to go back home after not being able to buy proper food during my illness and making it much worse -its been a hella short stay but I won't be put off by them. |
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wangtesol
Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 280
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Posted: Tue Sep 13, 2005 8:45 pm Post subject: Interac news |
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This is from National Union of General Workers Tokyo South www.nambufwc.org .... Interac had been refusing to negotiate with the union (a violation of trade union law) over not paying workers comp, illegal gyomu itaku contracts, among other things. More info at www.interacunion.org
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After lively demonstrations on June 11 and June 25, the union has finally convinced Interac it's time to sit down and talk.
The Tokyo Rohdoh Iinkai (Labor Relations Board) called to report that Interac has agreed to third-party mediation on July 19 at 7:30 pm. First item on the agenda was be Liza Manica's worker's comp case and then the union's several demands. We will also be looking to get some sort of written agreement that Interac will meet for collective bagaining whenever we ask.
It is a great victory -- although only a first step -- since Interac had thus far stubbornly refused ANY and all contact with the union, in complete defiance to Trade Union Law. |
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lajzar
Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 647 Location: Saitama-ken, Japan
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 1:52 pm Post subject: |
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If this story is true, my opinion of the union has dropped sharply. Surely the union has more worthwhile things to fight? |
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Sage

Joined: 09 Apr 2003 Posts: 144 Location: Iwate no inaka!
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 2:37 pm Post subject: Re: mouth wash |
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wangtesol wrote: |
The cause for concern was the phrase "smelling of alcohol."
So, what smells of alcohol? Not just alcohol but some mouth washes,
some medications, etc... Would you want to be fired because the
manager has it in for you and nails you for have minty-fresh but alcohol smelling breath?
This vague phrase would have allowed management another way to
harass and dismiss employess without just cause. No one is arguing that
drunkenness be tolerated at the workplace. |
Hahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahaha
hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahaaha
hahahahahahaahahahaha! Wait wait I might be done laughing in ten nin
or so.
Okay, so, you are serious aren't you? No, really.. you ARE serious!
Wow. If I was in the union and I heard the union was fighting for
something as sutpid, no, dumb, no, inane, no no, as retarded as
the 'smelling of beer' thing I'd ask for a refund and I'd be really
annoyed. I'd wonder what the hell the union was thinking when they
waste time on garbage (by the way did I mention that it was complete
trash? Did you see that? Okay good.) like the beer thing when they
should be out fighting for worth wild things that will really protect the
GOOD and HARDWORKING teachers (that don't do stupid things like go
to work drunk) from the company. Yeah, they should be doing things like...
wangtesol wrote: |
Berlitz is heartless. Berlitz Japan actually recently unfairly dismissed a female employee who was in a woman's shelter after she left her abusive husband. He had been calling up her workplace to further harass her, and Berlitz decided that was not good for business so she was fired. |
... yeah. Go union. Defend that poor teacher and do the job you should
be doing. I support this kind of action 100%. Do the job the teachers
pay you to do and not waste time on junk that might protect a few
bad seeds working in our industry.
PS: This was not a flame. I don't dislike you or have an issue with you.
I simply don't like people who are being stooges for an .org or company
that's doing something wrong.
Life isn't a popularity contest and I'm not here to blindly go along with
popular opinion just for the sake of agreement. I call a spade a spade
and this issue is a huge giant Godzilla eating spade. So, if you are a
union man and love to booze up before work and think I'm raining on
your parade then hate me, whatever. I'm the last liked teacher in Japan
already so if a few more or a few hundred more start to dislike me over
this I want you to know that really don't care, honto.
Peace and love,
~Sage |
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wangtesol
Joined: 24 May 2005 Posts: 280
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 8:11 pm Post subject: intoxication is the operative word |
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Labor education for migrant education workers is becoming a hot topic in TESOL circles these days. In the last couple of years more and more teachers are becoming aware of their rights as workers, and more and more teacher trainers are acknowledging that they have to also train teachers about their rights as workers. Former TESOL President David Nunan is just one who comes to mind. As well, Dave Sperling has just written the Foreword to the new book from EFL-Law.com on labor abuses in the English teaching industry. He is also a good friend Paul Robertson at efl-law.com
We are very fortunate in Japan to have unions that will fight for our rights. In South Korea and Taiwan this is not the case. The government won't recoginze migrant education worker unions. So, if you want to fight your company over labor abuses, you have to hire a lawyer at hundreds of US dollars an hour or go to the labor office and take your chances. However, in fighting alone one is most likely to be further harassed or simply fired. And the harassment simply does not come from the management alone, but often from other teachers as well. Then you won't get your "letter of release", in the case of South Korea, and so being able to work legally is almost impossible. Taiwan has done away with the letter of release, and in Japan you can get it through the Labor Standards Office (rodo kijun kantokusho).
But in Japan, the General Union, Education Workers Amalgamated and the National Union of General Workers Tokyo South (www.nambufwc.org) are all available to fight your employer and improve working conditions. They are fighting unions, not milquetoast talk shops.
I recommend listening to the Paul Robertson interview on ESL-Radio where he talks about language school bosses in South Korea having an organization on how to bend the law. "I know this for a fact," he says. The Lions Club or Rotary Club would be similar networks in Japan.
Okay, now to get back to the power harassment (pawa hawa) term "smelling of alcohol."
If the issue was intoxication then Berlitz would have used that term. But it wasn't; it was about Berltiz using another tool in its power harassment (pawa hawa) of teachers. So they used the phrase "smelling of alcohol." In the end, I think they never came up with an "intoxication" policy, so that shows how much they really cared about teachers showing up drunk. Which I doubt is an issue at Berlitz.
If anything, it makes Berlitz look bad for it highlights what kind of pawa hawa terms they employ, and it shows their lack of concern of alcoholism as social problem.
If you think the press would even care about this story you are mistaken, I think. In any case, the average Japanese person knows about the practice of pawa hawa; however, the average migrant education worker does not though, and if there were a story written on pawa hawa it would be very beneficial. I would encourage you to go to your local paper and tell them to do so.
Finally, the unionized workers of Berlitz were negotiating changes to "work rules' (shugyo kisoku), changes in contracts, salary changes, and 40-40 contracts. So, no, the union obviously was not just taking issue with the power harassment term "smelling of alcohol."
The union at Berlitz is the largest in the industry with negotiators who have years and years of experience, not just teaching, but negotiating with management. They know their tricks and could be managers themselves in their own right.
In this industry, many migrant education workers have often moved into management to better their working conditions. That used to be the only game in town. Now, with the labor union movement, there is an option: Form a branch union at your company and negotiate your way in collective agreements to better working conditions. You have to know how managers think though, and spot pawa hawa when it is coming down the pipe. |
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lajzar
Joined: 09 Feb 2003 Posts: 647 Location: Saitama-ken, Japan
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Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2005 11:01 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, you're right, turning up for work intoxicated is bad, and it does seem peculiar that they didn't specifically note that. However, in any job where you are working as a professional (yes, this includes teaching, even eikaiwa), or just dealing with the public, smelling of alcohol is also bad. The public generally doesn't like to talk to people who smell of alcohol. I don't know why, but there it is. So it can be reasonably said that smelling of alcohol doesn't meet up with any reasonable requirement to be presentable for work in a public situation. |
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yamanote senbei

Joined: 28 Jun 2005 Posts: 435
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 12:06 am Post subject: smelling of alcohol |
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Berlitz has apparently dropped the smelling of alcohol clause. If it was a reasonable thing for them to demand, why did they drop it? |
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stillnosheep

Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 2068 Location: eslcafe
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 7:36 pm Post subject: |
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Because there are various reasons why one's breath might seem to smell of alcohol that have nothing to do with recent drinking. Eg recent use of mouthwash and/or certain medications.
Also because the clause was open to abuse in an entirely arbitrary and subjective manner. Eg "Somebody has stated that your breath smelt of alcohol. Coming to work with breath smeling of alcohol is a dismissable offence. You are dismissed."
If Berlitz meant to make coming to work under the effects of alcohol a dismissable offence then they should have done so. That would have been reasonable and the way would have been open for any employee accused of being in such a situation to take a voluntary breath/blood/urine test or to produce evidence/witnesses as to why that could not possibly be the case.
"I think that your breath smells of alcohol' as grounds for dismissal is entirely subjective and open to abuse. |
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J.
Joined: 03 May 2003 Posts: 327
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 10:42 pm Post subject: Quibbling |
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I happen to agree that the "smelling of alcohol" phrase is open to abuse by management, but I also feel that it is only one small piece in the negotiations and not worthy of so much criticism.
I wonder why the people responding negatively are focussing on one small part of the negotiations? It almost seems like they are hunting for ways to deflate this victory. Heaven knows we have few enough unions in Japan attempting to take on the rampant abuses in the English teaching Industry. I would like to congratulate all those who stood up for their rights and made some headway; it should be an example for the rest of us. |
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stillnosheep

Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 2068 Location: eslcafe
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Posted: Wed Sep 21, 2005 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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Hear hear! |
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