High court orders private school to pay unpaid wages to unionized teachers

   The Tokyo High Court on January 24 upheld a lower court decision and ordered a private high school to pay unpaid wages to 10 teachers.

   In this lawsuit, teachers who are members of a labor union at Tsurukawa High School in Tokyo’s Machida City claim that the school’s arbitrary wage cuts using “financial crisis” as a pretext is unjustifiable and demanded that the school pay them unpaid wages.

   The high court ruled that the school’s fiscal condition is not as bad as the school claims and that there was no need to cut the wages of the plaintiffs.

   The Tokyo District Court last May ordered the school to pay the plaintiffs about 15 million yen in total on the grounds that its financial condition is not bad because it has 9.3 billion yen in reverse and that it has failed to explain to the union concrete reasons for the wage cuts.

   The school authorities have been hostile to the union and given union members unfair treatment. The wage cuts are also part of such discriminatory treatment.

   Plaintiff Morimoto Yuki said, “This court ruling not only protects teachers’ working conditions but also values our wishes for improving the school. This is a victory for us and the students and is a victory for democracy at the school.”
- Akahata, January 25, 2008