Genesis 21 A one teacher school where the teacher had an arbitrary wage cut after he submitted his resignation. Because he was already a union member, we were able to monitor the situation before it got out of hand and most of his wages were recovered. Most importantly of all though, we got a promise from the employer never to do this again and to enroll all future teachers into unemployment insurance. Joining before a problem occurs works.

Chris English Masters The GU has had dealing with this school over the past seven years. Union members have come and gone but we have always had a base in the school, even if just one member. Recently the company introduced a pay cut for all teachers, but we were able to turn the worst parts of this wage cut around for our current members. Feeling the strength of the union, other teachers are now interested in joining too.

A major juku with a small eikaiwa section Where this is a big juku chain, it is a very small eikaiwa. We have now gotten the company to agree to enroll teachers in shakai hoken, and to cover the back, un-enrolled pension portion. Sometimes working in a small school may feel isolating, but this is to let you know that if you stick with the union, even some bad problems can be fixed and improvements can be won.