In the early summer of 2009 the union was approached by members at St. Thomas University who were notified of job losses due to the school’s approaching closure. The union immediately sent off demands asking that the members be reinstated. Why? As stated in the Japan Times article, “this small private college near Osaka was struggling long before announcing last summer it was no longer accepting freshmen.” The university should have made clear to its teachers that the chance that they would have no work in 2010 was high. Instead, the university failed to act responsibly. When asked by union negotiators why they failed to make alternate plans instead of dismissal for the part timers, they answered that no one ever considered the part timers. With many GU members being part time themselves, this trend must be scary. With a dwindling population of eighteen year olds, what chance do part time university teachers have? While the GU continues to negotiate for our members at St. Thomas, we ask that all members look for signs of closures or koma cuts and let the union know immediately if they feel that there is a danger. The fact that we started negotiations with St. Thomas immediately may make a big difference in the livelihoods of our members. See Japan Times article, Demographic crisis leaves universities in financial bind.