As teaching positions become fewer and short-term and part-time employment more common for Japanese and expatriate teachers,TLT introduces a column devoted to news and analysis of working conditions. We welcome well-researched, informative contributions concerning employment problems, resources for dealing with them, and--especially--their solutions. Since we will cover issues defined by their conflicts of interests and accounts, we aim for objectivity, fairness, and accuracy, rather than a posture of neutrality. Please send contributions, in English or Japanese, to column editor Joseph Tomei. (See the masthead, p. 2, for contact information.)
Christmas in Kumamoto
On December 7, 1998 a statement of support signed by 47 Japanese and foreign academics, lawyers and other supporters, was delivered to Prefectural University of Kumamoto (KPU) President Teshima and the governor of Kumamoto Prefecture, calling for the end of the discriminatory treatment of foreigners at KPU.
Here is a chronology of the significant events of the labor dispute leading up to that statement.
In July 1993, four foreign teachers at Kumamoto Women's University, signed an Acceptance of Appointment document (shunin shodakusho) submitted to Monbusho as part of the preparations for restructuring the school as the Prefectural University of Kumamoto, for the school year beginning April 1994. The university recruited five additional foreign faculty who signed the same documents, which refer to the teachers as sennin kyoin ("full-time teachers" in the English translations). Per Monbusho requirements, the teachers submitted specially formatted curriculum vitae to verify their qualifications. These were accepted by Monbusho, which subsequently approved the university's application.
At the start of the school year in April 1994, however, the original four teachers were asked to sign a "Notification of Terms and Conditions" referring to their positions as tokubetsu hijoukin "special irregular, temporary/part-time" positions. According to this document, although they would teach a maximum workload, report on their research, participate in curriculum decisions, and be responsible for making entrance exams, budget expenditures of the Language Center, and timetables, they would not receive bonuses or retirement allowances and were ineligible for promotion. Instead of signing the document, the teachers sent a memo seeking relief from the additional "Terms and Conditions" that said, in part, "this list is not a demand for special treatment but a request to honor the agreements and understandings between Instructors and Monbusho, the Prefecture and the University. . . ." The remaining five teachers were employed as "regular" general public employees (joukin ippan koumuin) but with three-year contracts.
The university maintains that they described all aspects of the position during recruitment and explained them thoroughly to the finalists, implying that these discussions take precedence over any documents submitted to Monbusho. It also points out that because "foreign teachers" are limited to teaching English-related subjects, the nature of their duties dictates the manner of their employment. Even though the university has the foreign teachers teach a full class load and provides them with offices and research funds, the university insists that they are only part-time teachers, so acceding to their requests would amount to preferential treatment over other part-time workers.
On December 3, 1994, an informal meeting was held to discuss the status and terms of the foreign teachers. The teachers were told that the documents they signed did not reflect their actual status but were only for the purpose of obtaining accreditation. On December 7, the teachers sent a letter of protest reiterating that they expected the university to honor the documents they submitted to Monbusho.
The teachers had refused to sign the "Notification of Terms and Conditions" because it not only contradicted the previously signed Acceptance of Appointment documents submitted to Monbusho, but would also significantly downgrade their status. In February 1995, President Teshima signed a new version of the document which stated that the teachers had read but did not accept the terms and contained a set of proposed revisions. The teachers were classified as irregular part-time teachers, retroactive to the 1994-95 academic year.
The following two years, 1995 and 1996, instead of contracts, the teachers signed administrative appointment documents that allowed them to continue working. The university, however, refused to meet with the teachers to discuss a resolution.
In addition, the university hired an additional two foreigners on the same one year basis, bringing the total up to 6 'part-time full time' teachers and 5 ippan kyouin.
In 1996, the teachers were asked to reapply for their positions for the school year 1997, and they refused. Following legal advice, the teachers formed a union on July 11, 1997. Formal negotiations began in October 1997 and after five sessions were unilaterally broken off by President Teshima in February 1998.
On January 21, 1998, the university enclosed an agreement that changed the university-internal title of their jobs from gaikokujin kyoushi (foreign instructor) to gaikokugo kyoushi (foreign language instructor), noting that the term of the gaikokujin kyoushi ended on 31 March, 1998 and that the new gaikokugo kyoushi positions were term limited to 1 year. If the documents were not signed by February 10, 1998, the university said, the teachers would not be employed by the university. On the advice of their lawyers, they signed the document.
To protest their treatment, on June 24, 1998, the union held a one-day strike, the first strike at a public university in Japan.
In July, the university initiated a curriculum revision to reduce the required credits for English. This reduction would entail a 50% reduction in the number of foreign teachers employed.
In October, President Teshima announced that, in order to normalize the management of the university, "part-time foreign teachers" contracts would not be renewed. What was not mentioned was that this normalization means that specifically the six foreign teachers presently employed under such status would be dismissed from April 1, 1999. The President said that "Discussions have begun with the prefecture on hiring foreigners on the same basis as their Japanese counterparts" (Kumanichi Shinbun, Oct. 1, 1998). However, when these announcements were posted, it was stated that the terms of employment were "3 years (renewable) for those who do not have Japanese nationality" This document can be seen at: <http://nacwww.nacsis.ac.jp/local/docs/02861.html>.
On December 25th the Labor Commission met with the teachers and with university representatives in a preliminary investigation of the labor dispute. The teachers hope to obtain an order mandating their return to work until the dispute is settled and have asked their colleagues in Kumamoto to support them by not accepting part-time positions to replace them.
On December 28th, the teachers added over 900 signatories to their statement of support in three hours in downtown Kumamoto. A speaker for the teachers noted, "People came up to us and they said things like, 'We're not doing this for the poor, persecuted foreigners. We're doing it for ourselves. It's not a foreigner's problem, it's a question of the quality of teaching and the kind of schools we want in our community.' True, this happened to me because I'm a foreigner, but I'm dealing with it instead of leaving because Kumamoto's my home and I care what happens here."