The General Union has been in negotiations with the Deutsche Schule Kobe for over six months. Teachers at the school joined the General Union after the school reduced their bonus to zero for the previous academic year after they had received only 50% of the usual bonus for the year before that.
While the school accepted mediation, it withdrew after a proposal was made to have further informal negotiations with the union and then resume mediation at the Labour Commission afterwards.
The school have given their financial situation as the reason for not paying a bonus.
Another issue the union has raised with the school is the non-renewal of one of the union members. The case was taken to mediation at the Hyogo Prefectural Labour Commission.
They were reluctant to enter into even informal negotiations with the union.
The General Union is determined to pursue this matter further both to get justice for our members and to ensure that the school recognizes their rights to union representation.