Since joining the FGU the Seiha branch members of the FGU have held at least 3 collective bargaining sessions with Seiha management and have been successful in bringing attention to Seiha’s work place violations of Japanese labour laws. Some breaches that have been rectified are the abolition of penalties for being late, compulsory purchasing of work uniforms and numerous translation errors in the contract translation. Action by the union also led to pay rises for most of the foreign teachers (pay rises promised in the contract that were put on the shelf until the FGU demanded them). However, Seiha continues to breach the Labour Standards Law (article 3) by creating a special set of foreign teacher work rules that provide worse conditions than the work rules for Japanese staff. The Labour Standards office have said this is illegal but Seiha will not delete these special condition for “gaijin teachers”. Seiha also continues to change the content of the company work rules without the knowledge or consent of employees which is another breach of the Labor Standards Law (Article 90). The Seiha branch of the FGU encourages other Seiha employees (foreign and Japanese) not only in Fukuoka but also elsewhere in Japan to contact the General Union regarding any trouble or grievances they may be experiencing in the work place. We plan to further improve our working conditions in 2011 through dialogue between the FGU and Seiha management. Hopefully Seiha branch members will also be able to assist fellow FGU members from other companies in 2011 as well.