Part-time lecturers are demanding a cost-of-living adjustment, a retirement age of 70 and protection for their classes.
Prices are up. Pensions are thin. Classes can be cut from one year to the next.
For part-time university lecturers, those are not three separate problems. They are one: income security. A raise is worth nothing if the work is cut, or ends at 66.
General Union has put three demands to Kindai University for the 2027 academic year. A cost-of-living adjustment. A retirement age of 70 for part-time lecturers. Protection against cuts to our members’ classes and working conditions.
Prices Moved. Pay Barely Did.
According to the Statistics Bureau of Japan, the national consumer price index was 14.3% higher in August 2026 than the 2020 average. What cost ¥100 in 2020 now costs about ¥114.
Food is worse. The official food index is up about 30%. Rice is up 74%, eggs 47%, bread 32%, tofu 31%, milk 25%.
Now take the koma rate. A koma is a teaching slot. In 2020, Kindai’s monthly rate for one weekly koma was ¥36,900. Today it is ¥37,200.
That is ¥300 more. About 0.8%.
Prices rose 14.3%.
If the rate had kept pace with prices, it would now be about ¥42,200. Instead it is ¥37,200 – about ¥5,000 short for every koma.
For members whose wage rates have barely changed since 2020, it comes down to this. The number on the payslip has barely moved. What it buys has. In real terms, that is a pay cut.
We are not asking members to get ahead of inflation. We are asking that they stop falling behind, and that what they have already lost is restored.
Too Old to Work. Too Poor to Retire.
Kindai ends part-time lecturers’ employment at 66. We want it raised to 70.
The basic national pension normally starts at 65. Many part-time lecturers are not in the Shigaku Kyosai pension and rely mainly on that basic pension. After a full 40 years of contributions, the FY2026 amount is ¥847,300 a year. About ¥70,600 a month. Many get less.
The pension starts at 65. A year later, Kindai ends the work. The income that fills the gap is gone.
No law sets retirement at 66. Since 2021 the law has asked employers to make an effort to provide work up to 70. That is an effort obligation, not a guarantee. The direction is still clear.
These lecturers are experienced and fully able to teach. Those who want to keep teaching should be allowed to. Raising the age does not touch the pay scale. If they can still teach, there is no good reason to force them out at 66.
Part-Time. Not Disposable.
Our third demand is part of the Hands Off Our Koma (HOOK) campaign: We want members’ wages, koma and working conditions protected in 2027. If Kindai wants to cut them, it bargains with us first.
At Kindai, part-time lecturers are not a side group. As of May 2026, Kindai reported 2,231 full-time faculty and 3,727 part-time. More than six in ten teachers are part-time. That is 62.6%, about 167 for every 100 full-time.
A workforce that size is not a pool to be trimmed every year. Losing one or two koma can cut a year’s income sharply. Many lecturers work at several institutions, so it happens again and again.
What Happens Next
We have asked for a written reply before bargaining starts. We want to begin in the first week of November.
Bargaining usually goes one meeting at a time. One session. A wait. Then “when’s the next one?” Months disappear. We are starting differently. At the first session we will ask for a regular schedule running through March 2027, so everyone knows where we are.
Japanese law does not let an employer refuse to bargain without a proper reason – meaning the question is not whether Kindai bargains, but when. Fix the dates on day one.
Over the coming weeks we will take each demand in turn: wages, retirement, and protection of classes. If you teach at Kindai and you’re not in the union yet, talk to us now.
Kindai has until 19 October to reply.