Tag: contracts

  • Upcoming – Gerome Rothman – Understanding Labour Contracts and the Five Year Rule

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    Date and Time: Sunday, 29 October 2017– 1:30pm – 4:30pm
    Speaker: Gerome Rothman
    Location: AIINA Rm 602 (map https://goo.gl/maps/kEQo5UV2jPr)
    Fee for JALT members: Free
    Fee for one-day members: 1,000 yen (500 yen for students)

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    The talk will  begin by giving a brief background about temporary labor contracts to set up an examination about a unique problem facing language educators in the corporate and university sector – the so called five-year rule/ten-year rule.  This rule purports to provide a method for temporary labor contracts to become converted to permanent contracts.  This presentation will discuss the ins and outs of this new policy, the myths associated with it, the implications of the policy.  It will close by explaining why cooperation, rather than competition with ones colleagues is the only way to build solidarity and improve working conditions in the academic workplace.

    Bio:  Gerome Rothman is a Field Director and Organizer at Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union (Tozen Union for short).  As an organizer at Tozen he is a case officer for 10 of its locals, responsible for leading collective bargaining, drafting demands and legal documents, and representing the union to third parties such as the Labor Relations Commission 労働委員会.  He is also Tozen’s representative to the executive of Rengo Tokyo, Rengo being the national federation with which Tozen became affiliated in 2016.  He is also English language instructor at the  Foreign Service Training Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

    About Tozen Union:  Tozen a Japanese labor union based in Tokyo with members who hail from over 35 countries. Members work in a diverse range of sectors including language education, financial services, warehousing, and translation/interpretation.  Tozen aims to be the most democratic and transparent union in the world.  Our website is at www.tokyogeneralunion.org http://www.tokyogeneralunion.org.

  • Upcoming – October 25, 2015 – Louis Carlet

    Date and Time: Sunday, 25 October 2015 – 1:30pm – 4:30pm
    Speaker: Louis Carlet
    Location: AIINA Rm 605
    Fee for JALT members: Free
    Fee for one-day members: 1,000 yen

    Precarious Employment at Universities and Elsewhere

    Over 90% of foreign workers are on contingent employment, temporary contracts.
    This means the employer can simply refuse to renew the contract — no reason required.
    In 2013 the law was changed to give workers the right to switch to permanent employment
    after five years. Sounds like more job security.
    Two problems: One is that the clock started ticking April 1, 2013 – the five-year rule was not
    grandfathered back – so we can’t use the rule until 2018. The second is that many employers, and universities in particular, have taken measures to fire everyone before the day of reckoning in 2018.
    They now only advertise jobs for up to five years. This means the new law has reduced, not elevated,
    job security. The only way to fight this and to fight for increased job security is a large labor union movement. Only a powerful focused labor movement can fight for permanent employment for all,
    through workplace solidarity.
    I will discuss the successes and failures of my labor union then take questions.

    Bio

    Louis Carlet is the general secretary and founder of Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union (“Tozen”), a union representing both Japanese and migrant workers, including foreign language teachers, bank and newspaper workers. Tozen is the only foreign-led amalgamated union (godo roso) in Japan.
    Carlet is from the United States and moved to Japan in the early 1990s, originally working as a translator for a Japanese newspaper, called Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and subsequently leaving that position to become a full-time paid trade union organizer.[1] He was the first foreign full-time unionist ever in Japan (excepting so-called zainichi who are ethnically Korean but born and raised in Japan).[2] He has acted as an adviser to English instructors and others with work-related problems through the Japan Times.[3][4]
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Carlet