National Union of General Workers

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NUGW
The National Union of General Workers
Country Japan
Affiliation Zenrokyo
Office location Osaka, Japan
Website www.nugw.org

The National Union of General Workers (全国一般労働組合, Zenkoku Ippan Roudou Kumiai ?, acronym NUGW) is a Japanese national labour union affiliated with the Zenrokyo (National Trade Union Council), which is itself one of the three main federations within the Japanese trade union structure.

The NUGW also acts as an umbrella organisation encompassing numerous smaller autonomous general unions and trade unions, including the National Union of General Workers - Tokyo South (also known as NAMBU), which represents Eastern Japan; the General Union, headquartered in Osaka, representing Western Japan, and the Fukuoka General Union, representing Kyushu; and the University Teacher's Union (UTU).

These unions are sub-divided into smaller chapters representing Japanese members in the publishing industries, whilst most non-Japanese members are employed in Eikaiwa (English-language teaching in Japan).[citation needed]

For the most part, union branches are based at vocational schools, conversation schools, and private and public high schools having representative branch unions at dozens[citation needed] of English language schools including Nova, GEOS, Berlitz, ECC and Interac. [1]

The General Union (Osaka) has official consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). [2]

Contents

[edit] Activities

The union works to raise awareness of problems faced by foreign workers in Japan, to improve members working conditions and bargaining power and to inform members of their rights under Japanese labour law. [3] Activities include strikes, [4] rallies and leafleting, filing injunctions and arguing cases at Labour Commissions and District Courts [5] on issues such as fixed-term contracts, the non-enrollment of employees into Social Insurance, illegal outsourcing of Assistant Language Teachers by public schools, and unfair dismissals due to one-year contracts.

[edit] March in March

The first March in March was organisd by Louis Carlet in 2005 to raise public awareness of worker and human rights abuses. [3] The 2007 march took place in Shibuya, Tokyo, and attracted around 300, mainly non-Japanese, marchers. The march was organised by the National Union of General Workers Nambu Foreign Workers Caucus, Kanagawa City Union, Zentoitsu Workers' Union and Tokyo Occupational Safety and Wealth Center. The main aims of the march are to focus attention on issues for migrant workers in Japan, such as unfair dismissal, job security, equality regarding accidents in the workplace and health and pension compliance. [6]

[edit] Social Insurance

Due to union pressure, in March 2005, the Japanese Government's Social Insurance Agency began to investigate English language schools in Japan for non-payment of Social Insurance (社会保険, Shakai Hoken ?). In general, non-enrollment of full-time employees is illegal in Japan -- the Health Insurance Law and Employees' Pension Law stipulate that companies must enroll all workers who have been in Japan for over two months in both the health insurance and pension systems, regardless of nationality. Shakai Hoken cover for employees also includes sickness and injury allowance. The burden of payment is split between employer and employee, with each paying about half the monthly premium amount. [7][8]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ The Language Teacher by Susan Carbery, Obirin University. jalt-publications.org (January 2002). Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
  2. ^ ECOSOC Roster Consultative Status since 2005. esa.un.org (February 17 2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
  3. ^ a b Faces & Places - Q&A - Louis Carlet. Metropolis (February 17 2006). Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
  4. ^ PALE Journal of Professional Issues. debito.org (December 1998). Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
  5. ^ The Language Teacher by Roger Jones. jalt-publications.org (November 2001). Retrieved on 2007-02-19.
  6. ^ Foreigners march for worker rights. The Japan Times (March 13 2007). Retrieved on 2007-03-13.
  7. ^ English schools face huge insurance probe. The Japan Times (April 12, 2005). Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  8. ^ Social Insurance Agency http://www.sia.go.jp/e/ehi.html#ben
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