Job Discussion Forums

[General Union]

OPEN UNION MEETING FOR ALL NOVA INSTRUCTORS:
We will be holding a union meeting for NOVA teachers on Sunday, March 3 at 8:30PM at the union office in Osaka (see http://www.generalunion.org/map.htm for a map or www.generalunion.org for more info about the union).

It�s interesting to go through this site and read the stories from NOVA teachers. Many teachers think that they can�t change their situation, but I know they can. This is what the union has already won at NOVA:

1. The legal amount of paid holidays.

2. A reduction in fines for lateness. Teachers used to be fined a whole day's pay; now it's only half a day.

3. Enrolment in Unemployment Insurance.

4. A grievance procedure (won together with NUT).

5. The Union in effect stopped the drug testing. It's still in the contract but NOVA has never tested teachers for drug use in Japan.

6. Made sure that MM centre teachers were paid for all time worked (before teachers were having to stay longer without overtime pay if there were computer problems).

7. Individual headsets for MM teachers (teachers use to share headsets, which led to health concerns).

8. Firings and non-renewals have been overturned.

9. With the Union's help, teachers have received workers' compensation for injuries at work - although NOVA had given them no assistance with their claim..

10. Teachers in the past have been fired without thirty days' notice. We made sure they got pay in lieu.

11. NOVA has turned down teachers' holiday requests; the Union has made sure those teachers got the time off.

12. MM teachers who called in late were told not to come into work. So they lost the whole day's pay and were fined a half-day for lateness. Union members showed up for work when they were told to stay home, and they got paid!

13. A quicker response to holiday requests.

We would like teachers to know that if they want to change the place where they work (instead of constantly moving from one job to another) there is a way, and that�s the union.
The agenda for the meeting is as follows:

1. How can NOVA teachers win improvements？ (a look at some other schools with high rates of unionization, how the teachers organized, and the pay and benefits that they won).

2. Issues
a. Paid Holidays
We need to get the four week notice period abolished, and make NOVA introduce a rule allowing you to use paid holidays as sick days. At the moment, it's up to your AM whether you can do this or not.
b. National Holidays
Teachers at other major schools have either increased pay or a day off on national holidays. We should too.
c. Health and Pension Insurance (Shakai Hoken)
Why does NOVA break the law by not enrolling teachers on this scheme? What benefits does this scheme offer? NOVA tells you that it's expensive, but not that you can get most of your money back, and that the JMA policy isn't as good as the Shakai Hoken. NOVA also doesn't mention that by law you MUST be enrolled on it if you work 30 hours a week or more. By refusing to enrol teachers to avoid paying the premiums, NOVA is in effect defrauding the public health and pension system. NOVA should enrol us, and we should demand that it pay 100% of the premiums since it hasn't told us the truth about the insurance.
d. More access to union information for all teachers
Of course no company wants teachers to know about the Union, but at some
schools (Berlitz, Chris English Masters, Nichibei Eigo Gakuin) the Union has posting rights so that the Union can put its information out to all teachers. The Osaka YMCA even gives a teacher list to the union every year. We need to make sure that all teachers have access to Union information.

e. Evaluation System
We must make sure the evaluation system is not used to harass teachers.

f. A Health and Safety Committee
The law says that NOVA must have this, but it doesn't. We know that schools have locked fire exits, that staff have no first aid training (what if a child is injured?), that schools don't even have first aid kits. This is unacceptable, and we need to push NOVA to follow the law.
g. High price of NOVA accommodation
NOVA puts three teachers in an apartment in Hirakata and charges them 80,000 apiece for it. How does that happen? Do you know of any rundown apartments at 240,000 a month? This is a NOVA scam. NOVA provides your housing, your telephone, your airline tickets, and your health insurance; next it'll start paying you in NOVA dollars. Let's stop the rip-off!
h. The no-socialization policy
Why should NOVA tell you what to do when you're not at work?. The GU thinks that the no-socialisation policy is a violation of your human rights and has approached NOVA.

If you are interested in attending the meeting please visit http://www.generalunion.org/novasurvey.htm. Also, please visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/novateachersunited/ to hear what NOVA teachers are saying about the union and NOVA.

We hope to see you on the 25th, but if you can�t attend, please feel free to call us at 06-6352-9619 or email at [email protected]

Sincerely,
Dennis Tesolat
Vice Chair � General Union

[shmooj]

Jeeps makes you wonder what you're getting into when they offer you that kind of protection

[Glenski]

General Union,

Many people have asked me about NOVA's JMA insurance plan. They are concerned that NOVA insists that its teachers show proof of some insurance before they fly over here, and it seems that the only ways to do that are to enroll in their JMA plan or take out some kind of foreign insurance. This pretty much precludes anyone from being able to sign up for Japanese national health insurance.

JMA costs about 7500 yen/month. NHI costs about 2500 yen/month (first year only, then it goes up tenfold). For someone who wants to work only one year in Japan, this means paying 3 times what you really could.

On www.teachinginjapan.com NOVA replied to a questionnaire by saying that NHI was available to its teachers, but someone I was in contact with in the last 2 weeks presented this info to NOVA and got a stinging reply. NOVA said it was available only for its part-time workers! So, the vast majority of teachers are not eligible in NOVA's eyes and regulations.

What do you have to say about that, and how can this be changed? The best advice I could offer was to join JMA, then quit after the first month in order to join NHI.