Imagine working at a company with NO paid holidays, NO insurance against unemployment or sickness, NO pension provision, NO transportation allowance, NO premium pay as assured in the Labour Standards Law for overtime or rest day work, and the LOWEST hourly rate amongst major industry employers.

Top this up with the fact that teachers aren’t even recognized as employees and have only 4-month contracts and you have GABA. This is the future of every language teacher in this country if GABA cannot be stopped, forced to recognize the law of the land, and respect the dignity of their own employees by offering the bare minimum of what the law stipulates.

Enough is enough. GABA teachers and staff, through the union, now have a way to make the company recognize that they are not mere profit-making tools, but human beings with dignity. GABA workers have stood up and are now refusing the company’s move to bring the whole industry back to the bad old days before unionization made all the industry players follow the law.

The union has demanded that GABA increase the pay to 1900yen per 40-minute class, offer all the benefits guaranteed under the law and pay for all the benefits which they have lost out on since starting work at the company.

We ask that all GABA teachers and staff join the union to make their voice heard and to demand that their dignity be respected. Negotiations are scheduled to start on 18 October and we hope that all union members, regardless of workplace or location, support the new GABA branch in their demands for a better, more just workplace.