It seemed that dispatch was looming and was poised to ruin her job. The teacher was in her first year of employment as a JET and had the expectation that her contract would be renewed for another two years. Out of the blue she received a call from her Board of Education and was told that her direct hire contract was being terminated at the end of March 2009. The BoE would like to keep her on though – as a dispatch teacher. The BoE had organized for a dispatching company to hire the teacher at a substantially reduced salary, without health and pension and the accommodation that she presently received. This would be a major drop in working conditions but with the same job responsibilities. Initial talks with CLAIR (the administrative body of JET teachers) saw an offer of a transfer to another job with the original working conditions. This wasn’t good enough. Finally talks between CLAIR and the BoE resulted in dispatch being abandoned and the direct hire position is safe for at least another two years. Contact the union now if you hear of dispatch companies trying to take over direct hire positions.