Universities are cutting part-time teachers’ classes and expecting workers to absorb 100% of the financial impact. The General Union says: enough.
The pattern is always the same. Enrollment drops. Budgets tighten. Schedules change. Universities cut part-time teachers’ classes and expect them to survive on reduced income while institutions continue trudging along unchanged.
This week’s lawsuit by a Sugamo School teacher whose classes were slashed from 14 to 4 illustrates exactly what we’re fighting against. When universities face business challenges, they automatically transfer 100% of the financial burden onto part-time teachers (Sugamo case summary and article is here).
The Osaka Metropolitan University Reality Check
At Osaka Metropolitan University, our members have been losing “just one koma” each semester for years now. University administrators dismiss this as minor—”it’s only one class”—but for workers trying to build stable careers and support families, these incremental cuts add up to serious financial hardship.
How many years are part-time teachers supposed to accept “just one koma” cuts before saying enough? How many times should workers absorb the university’s operational challenges while receiving no protection, no compensation, and no alternatives?
The answer is zero. We’re done accepting this as normal.
Business Problems Aren’t Worker Problems
When universities face declining revenue do to ever declining enrolment, or need to change curriculums or schedules to stay relevant, they automatically cut part-time teachers’ income by cutting classes. They expect teachers to absorb business risks while providing none of the protections that normally come with bearing such risks.
Declining enrollment? That’s a management problem that requires management solutions.
The Union’s Response: Multiple Fronts
We’re fighting back through every available channel:
Legal Action: The Sugamo case demonstrates that courts are starting to scrutinize schools’ and universities’ arbitrary treatment of part-time faculty, especially those with unlimited-term contracts. If won, the cases create precedents that protect all part-time teachers.
General Union members are now considering this action at a number of universities.
Direct Negotiation: We continue pressing universities to solve their problems without cutting workers’ total compensation. If fewer classes are needed, pay teachers more per remaining class to maintain their income. Universities reject this proposal because they want workers, not the university, to bear financial consequences.
HOOK Campaigns: Our “Hands Off Our Koma” initiative intervenes before cuts happen, demanding universities commit to maintaining part-time teachers’ class loads and fighting the institutional mindset that treats educators as disposable gap-fillers.
Why We Fight Back Now
Every “small” cut normalizes bigger ones. Every accepted reduction teaches universities they can transfer their problems onto workers without consequences. Every time we say “it’s just one koma,” we make it easier for them to cut two next time.
The message is simple: if universities can’t maintain operations without cutting workers’ income, they need better management, not more disposable employees.