PER LESSON TEACHERS will be losing out in up to FOUR WAYS.
- Paid national holidays – ELIMINATED! 6 units x 16 holidays x ¥2000 = ¥192,000 (example)
- Higher pay for working on rest days (e.g. Sundays) – ELIMINATED!
- 17,000 commutation allowance changed to actual cost at a potential loss.
- They should be paying the full 5 minutes between breaks, but the change does not even cover 2 minutes of the 5 minutes you will be obliged to work.
- Will ¥200 per unit make up for this? NO!! You’ll earn less over the year, as ¥200 will not even come close to covering what they are planning to TAKE AWAY.
How will it affect CONTRACT TEACHERS?
- By still refusing to pay you for your FULL time between lessons.
- Berlitz is unilaterally lowering the number of lessons you teach INSTEAD OF
- just paying you for your time before, between, and after lessons like they SHOULD DO!
- Instead of paying you a 12.5% increase for those five minutes, like
- they should, they’ll just lower your lesson count and pay you the same.
- NO BENEFIT ! CONTRACT TEACHERS get nothing and PER LESSON TEACHERS WILL GET IT IN THE NECK!
AND TO TOP IT ALL OFF…
- A new 38.75 hour contract on a set salary AND 50 UNITS plus admin duties, will eat up even more lessons from per lesson and contract teachers.
- ALSO… Berlitz is saying nothing about all the years you have worked before, between, and after lessons for free, and there is no doubt we all have.
The General Union demands:
- NO unilateral contract changes.
- A 12.5 % INCREASE to cover the five minutes.
- FULL BACK PAY for the years teachers worked the five minutes.
Berlitz cannot impose this on union members:
- Union members are covered by a pre-consultation agreement which makes the company HAVE to talk to the union beforehand.
- This unilateral announcement is a violation of that agreement and the union can sue. This is why the company has assured union members that this is ONLY A FIRST DRAFT.
- Unlike individual instructors, Berlitz MUST negotiate with the union.
- AND THE BIG ONE…union members can take industrial action including strikes to prevent these changes.
Berlitz teachers have contracts, so how can they change it?
Berlitz has told the union that they don’t plan to honour your contract and instead, will just change the working rules.
This is why they’re holding these sham information sessions. They want to make sure that they can show that they’ve consulted with you before making changes. Remember, they don’t have to negotiate with non-union members, but we hope that all teachers will let the company know with a resounding I DO NOT AGREE!
If you’re a Berlitz teacher, make sure the company KNOWS you don’t agree! Sign below or follow the petition link to express your disapproval, or they will ASSUME that you DO agree to their terms. Union and non-union members are invited to sign.