On September 24th, we held collective bargaining with dispatch company Altia Central. Our demands were stark and simple:
- Raise monthly salaries from ¥210,000 to ¥250,000
- Restore contract completion bonuses to one month’s salary
Nobody can live in Kyoto on ¥210,000 a month. With five kilograms of rice now costing over ¥4,000, the cost of living has soared while Altia Central drives wages down. Bonuses have collapsed from ¥180,000 two years ago to a paltry ¥60,000 today.
The company president refused to attend bargaining, hiding behind lawyers and flatly rejecting our proposals. His message was clear: corporate profits come before ALT livelihoods. This is the true face of dispatch companies—squeezing workers while padding their own margins.
But Altia Central isn’t the only problem. The Kyoto Board of Education enables this exploitation by continuing to rely on dispatch companies in schools, making them complicit in driving down wages and working conditions.
To break this cycle, General Union has submitted a formal petition to the Kyoto Prefectural Assembly. The Assembly’s Education Committee will debate dispatch ALT employment and wage conditions. We’re also planning direct negotiations with the Kyoto Board of Education.
We will use every tool available to secure stable employment and living wages for our members. This fight isn’t just about ALTs—it’s about strengthening English education in Kyoto’s schools.