Tag: Louis Carlet

  • Autumn Meetings Report 2015

    Hi everyone. It has been quite the hectic autumn season, and I am late with the meeting reports, so I’m going to combine them both here in one article.

    Andy Boon – September 27

    On September 27 we had another amazing visit from Andy Boon. He talked to us about how teachers can be more reflective in how they approach their teaching style, and methods we as teachers can use to self-analyse our performance. One such strategy was having another co-worker listen to our reflection,not making any judgements, and summarizing what we told them,  allowing us a moment of self-reflection. Overall, Andy’s ideas for teacher self-evaluation and reflection were very helpful.

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    Andy’s second talk about on Negotiated syllabuses.  This is a method of planning a course curriculum involving  the students themselves in the planning process. This allows the students to be more involved in guided learning and add their own input.  He cautioned that it can be tricky to have the student help you plan a syllabus on the first day of class when curriculums are usually supposed to be set way before then. However, if it can be done, negotiating syllabuses with the students can be a rewarding experience. Personally, I applied this to my community English class with amazing results. Thanks again for two more amazing talks, Andy!

    Louis Carlet – October 25

    This snippet form Wikipedia is probably the best way I can introduce Louis.

    “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.”

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    Louis came to Morioka and gave us a presentation about the current state of employment in Japan. While things are grim, he spoke to us about his history in fighting for employees with his union, and how most foreign employees in Japan could benefit from union representation.  In fact, his stories highlight that many  foreign workers in Japan are simply unaware of what their rights are under Japanese Law. His talk was eye-opening, and he answered many questions from the concerned people who came to listen. We want to thank Louis for coming up and giving his presentation.

     

    Reported by Jason Hill

    All photos ©2015 Jason Hill

  • 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