Shake it up baby

For all of you out there who were jostled out of bed this morning by shock waves from the earthquake in Wakayama, I would like to remind you that Berlitz has, at long last, in response to union demands, come up with Health and Safety procedures to deal with emergency situations. Among the procedures outlined is training in how to escape from the building, and how to lead customers out. So far, only managers have been given this training. The union has asked HR whether or not all employees will have a chance to participate in some kind of disaster preparation practice, but have not received a clear response. For obvious reasons, we believe that such training is urgently needed; please join us in demanding that HR demonstrate their concern for our safety by providing PAID training to all employees.

Power Harassment at Berlitz Japan
Union and HRD representatives met at BJHQ on Friday, September 3, in collective bargaining session to discuss the growing need for a detailed, comprehensive power harassment policy. Recently, there has been an increase in cases involving the abuse or discriminatory treatment of teachers on the LC level. These include arbitrary assignment of lessons, irregular processing of complaints against teachers, and fanciful reprimands for trivial dress-code infractions. This harassment results in a hostile environment with grave consequences for the quality of instruction and the satisfaction in the work performed by our members. The Union demands the policy to regulate the actions of managers and supervisors and to direct the course of fact-finding procedures in case of any grievance.
Too often, offenses against teachers go unreported, or else uncorrected when they are brought to the attention of the HRD, to the detriment of all. Due to the too-rapid expansion of LCs, inexperienced and manifestly ill-trained teachers are promoted to supervisory positions which require qualifications and skills with which they have not been provided by management. While we recognize the integrity and intelligence of the majority of supervisors, the failure of management to provide necessary and sufficient training has resulted in disruptions and discord in the LCs. To date, the Union has found Berlitz Japan derelict in its responsibility to provide and maintain a well-ordered environment for the teachers, and to protect them from the egregious treatment of a minority of supervisors and managers.
The subject of the current talks is the sequence of events at a suburban LC where, the Union maintains, supervisors subjected Union members to abusive and discriminatory treatment over an extended period. HRD was informed of these incidents at the time, but made no suitable nor timely response to correct these actions. In this initial collective bargaining session, the Union presented a 37-page document comprised largely of unanswered letters and reports concerning the actions of these supervisors to the HRD. In subsequent sessions, the Union will record management's considered response to these events. Members should document cases of discrimination or abuse and notify their Steward or Executive Committee of any incidents.

Atsugi Action
BEGUNTO members leafletted on August 10 in front of Atsugi LC to show support for members being harassed by management at Shinjuku LC. Arbitrary and even imaginative application of the dress code (no white socks??) by local management is perhaps the reason why teachers there empathize so readily with their colleagues downtown.
Do local rules in your corner of Berlitz differ from what you were told at training? Or are they simply at variance with common sense? Join the union, and do something to improve your workplace!

Doing the Shinjuku shuffle!
Teachers employed at either Shinjuku-Nishi or the recently opened Shinjuku-Minami LC may find themselves scheduled to spend their 5-minute break racing along the streets between the two schools, which are separated by several blocks. Pretty hard to delight the customer when you are bathed in sweat, flipping through the textbook to find the right page. Surely University educated adults who have come so far to work wouldn't put up with these kinds of conditions? If you have any other examples of bizarre work conditions within your LC please send them along to begunto1@yahoo.com with your suggestions about what you are willing to do about them.