Foreign English teachers demand direct employment by municipality

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

Foreign English teachers demand direct employment by municipality

Foreign temporary workers at public schools on March 17 made representations to the Kashiwa City mayor calling on him to directly hire them.

Nine foreign English teachers, accompanied by Chiba Federation of Trade Unions (Chiba-Roren) Tokatsu Union Chair Inaba Moritoshi, took part in the representation.

They are assistant language teachers (ALT), all in their 20s and 30s, who are sent by the Tokyo-based staffing agency International Educational Systems, Inc. to public elementary and junior high schools in Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture.

Although they are temporary workers, they are working under the practice of “disguised contract work.” This illegal labor practice has been adopted by many corporations, mainly manufacturers, in order to evade legal obligations under the Worker Dispatch Law, which requires employers to offer temporary workers direct employment after employing them for a certain period.

While working from 8.30 a.m. to 4. p.m., their annual salary is only about two million yen. Their working conditions without social insurance are recognized as “public working poor,” which could lead to lowering of the quality of public services.

- Akahata, March 18, 2010