General Union Demonstrates in Front of G.communication

Is it just me or is the General Union just a bit of a 'talking shop'. I think its good that they publicize issues that apply not only to G-Com but to Ekaiwas en mass. However, if said companies operate within the law, what at the end of the day can they hope to achieve? As far as I understand G-com has refused to meet with them and without sufficient membership to organize support and or noticeable strike action, demonstrative action just seems like a small collection of local staff making a justifiable but inconsequential stance. The actions of G-com have been draconian and thus action must be taken but I cant see the General Union making any significant difference for the instructors in the long or short term. I believe that instructors should demand better conditions on an individual basis and if they are not met then they should resign and state the reasons clearly on their resignation forms.

The "Union" and I use the term lightly are a J-O-K-E!! When there was a NOVA union (under the SaRUhashi Era) they didn't do D*CK about trying to recruit new members or help new teachers. It was an "Old Boys Network" that only worked for their own personal whims and fancies. I have since learned that of the few members (before the bankruptcy) many of them "were on strike" (i.e. had stopped working for NOVA years ago). They only had axes to grind with NOVA about personal issues. Where are they now after the bankruptcy?...OOOPPPSS can a Union go bankrupt?...We are all better off without THEM!! Hopefully they are homeless and on the street starving or even better have had to go back to their home countries and be a PAIN IN THE *SS OVER THERE!

What have you done about this? You sit back and whine while the GU is taking action. I applaud them for their effort.

I don't know if you have noticed, but G-com actually want to get rid of employees. If people started resigning left, right, and centre they would be all too happy.

Granted the union has their faults, but they are really the only ones doing anything constructive at the moment.

Why are you so upset about the union that you have to accuse people of silly conspiracies?

Personally, I am skeptical of unions and have never joined one. I would never think of joining one back home, but perhaps I would here if I still worked at a school. The reason being is that labor laws are so blatantly violated here. The law is a total joke.

As for the union in question, I have heard both good and bad things (perhaps more bad though). Regardless, you are not being forced to join so why do you care? How can it hurt in this country? Perhaps you are the one with the agenda!!

Maybe I enjoy posting!

I am not here to defend the union. My point is simply this. Considering how flagrantly labor laws are violated in this country and the fact that it is voluntary, I see no reason for the anger some posters here have for it.

As for your saying it does not do much, you are probably right. I do not think it does much apart from keeping some people informed about the law and giving the occasional gaijin worker a bit of a voice now and then. That is why your point about saying it hurting people at Nova so much is such a joke! That ship was going down regardless. Some weak, do-little union was certainly not responsible(if that is your point about "hurt".

Yeah, I guess the Union in Japan, as far as eikaiwa goes, has its limitations, because so few members are attracted to it, because eikaiwa pays so little, every penny counts, and most people want to get out and go home, not so long after they start. They have "exit strategy" on their minds, over and above Union fees.

However, when I got threatened with being fired by the old Nova, I found the advice given by the Union to be invaluable. Nova did not manage to get rid of me, with their bully, stand over tactics, that's for sure !

The Union made it clear to me what my rights were, and what Nova could and could not do. I shuved it up Nova, will full confidence, and won !!!!!

I say more power to the Union movement. Bring it on. Unionise now !!!!

first time to post, and just wanted to share my experience with the union. i joined them the last week before the collapse only to have the ability to strike and not waste my days working w/o knowing if i would be paid. paid one month (2400yen)dues and was never razzed about striking at my school in tokyo. when g-ed offered me plan b, i took it and then was given notice dec. 23rd saying no go. was a little bummed but not overly so. went to hello work and got the coverage rolling around 2nd week jan. around that time union called and asked if i wanted to be on a list to be submitted to g-ed demanding they honour my nova contract term. i said sure why not, as i hadn`t started receiving any loot from the dole yet and wanted to see how it played out. the day before i was to do 2nd step of 3 at HW i got a call from robert vaughn who asked me to come in for an interview. i said was this because i was a union member? he said he didn`t have any information concerning membership. i said ok and asked if i was to be offered a new contract and he said he didn`t know. anyway, i blew off the interview set for the following day and moved on. about two days before the 3rd step to receive money from HW i got another call from g-ed asking me what do i want to do about my shakai hoken paperwork. i said i don`t work for g-ed and i am confused as to why you are calling me, and the pleasant dude said that as far as he knew i was to get paid on the 15th 60% standby. so even though the union never notified me of my being put on standby, i was on the books. well my contract with nova was to finish the end of feb, and i was not going to back off the HW process as it was the sure route to give me a few months to get something primed. so i just proceeded and said nothing about the double payments. HW is none the wiser and g-ed never sent me any paperwork confirming my standby status nor my koyohoken card.
so for me things panned out well and the one month union dues i paid sure brought back a solid return. so to say the union is shit or a waste of time and money is subjective. they were very supportive and informative and really only had heaps of encouragement.
fyi: had some drinks with a g-ed FP staff yesterday and she said she was cut as of tomorrow and that robert "knee pads" vaughn was also cut!! so for those who care, thought you would enjoy that update.

every HW office should give you an english instruction manual upon request as to each and every step to secure benefits. this includes early return to employment payments that are available. my local office was a bit of a challenge as my nihongo is limited and they surprisingly did not have any tranlators. but shinjuku HW was stockpiled with info and over 5 tranlators eager to help every time i went there(3x). that was in Jan though. my local office case worker is not so friendly, but once your in the system not many words are needed when you report every 28 days.

"had some drinks with a g-ed FP staff yesterday and she said she was cut as of tomorrow and that robert "knee pads" vaughn was also cut!! so for those who care, thought you would enjoy that update."

Robert Vaughn's out then, finally. If he's out, I'd say the ship is pretty much sunk.

By the way, why's he called "knee pads"?

I don't blame Union people still at G Con for singing the Union's praises. It's all they've got!

My post was sarcastic if anything, as opposed to plain silly. If most GCom people are anti-Union as you said, then it's even truer to say that all that the GCom Union members have is the Union.

I agree, we should all be having these conversations and I do, or at least I try to and I try to have them around jobs, job satisfaction, solidarity.