Japan Press Weekly

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2010 June 9 - 15 [LABOR]

17 foreigners in Niigata lose their teaching jobs

In late March just before the new school year started (in April in Japan), an assistant language teacher who was teaching English at a local public school received a phone call from someone at his staffing agency who said, “We couldn’t win a contract in Niigata this year but may be awarded one in another prefecture. Can you move to another prefecture?”

All the 17 ALTs lost their jobs in Niigata. Some decided to leave Japan and 14 decided to look for teaching jobs in other prefectures.

He said, “I was very disappointed that I was treated like this. The prefectural government totally ignored my experience and achievements. Is it OK to allow such a practice to be employed by schools?” Determined to stand up against this unfair labor practice, he joined a labor union. He is now calling on the prefectural government to directly hire him.

A staffing agency sent him to a school to teach English under the instruction of Japanese teachers of the school. This method of procuring an employee was outright illegal disguised contract labor. In 2009, however, the Ministry of Education issued a directive to redress the illegal use of workers as independent contractors and to simply use them as temporary staff or offer them direct employment.

The Heart Corporation, another staffing agency, has been awarded an ALT contract in Niigata for replacement of the staffing agency he was sent from. The winning bidder will pay ALTs lower salaries than the previous agency did and will not offer paid holidays or cover them with unemployment insurance. The Heart Corporation explained that it instructs ALTs to enroll in national health insurance on their own.

The current system requires staffing agencies to provide social insurance for temporary workers if their workload is similar to that of regular workers.

The ALTs work five days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. However, the Heart Corporation stated, “They actually work 29.5 hours a week (less than six hours a day), so our corporation has no legal obligation to provide them with social insurance.”

The Niigata Prefectural Board of Education, despite knowing that this is an evasive practice, leaves everything up to the private staffing agency in this regard.

The teacher described above said, “I believe it’s not good for education in Japan to allow companies to conduct illegal labor practices and participate in education businesses. The best solution to my case is my direct employment so that students can focus on English study in class.”
- Akahata, June 10, 2010