GURits Voice Special Issue
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GU Rits Voice
Special Issue
GENERAL UNION RITSUMEIKAN UNIVERSITY BRANCH NEWS DECEMBER 2005
ゼネラルユニオン立命館大学支部ニュース2005年12月
Ritsumeikan intends to add extra duties to Shokutaku Language Teachers contracts without informing or negotiating
This year Ritsumeikan terminated the Jokin programme for language lecturers/ Now it is planning to pass all Jokin duties to Shokutaku teachers overnight without improving their labour conditions
The position of the University is that activities and duties which have been treated so far in the Shokutaku contracts in generic terms as educational activities will now be articulated for the sake of clarity
We know that once these extra duties are spelled out in Shokutaku contracts, teachers won’t be able to refuse to perform them without incurring breach of contract
We have learned that Ritsumeikan is preparing a very special New Years’ gift for Shokutaku language teachers: Shokutaku contracts for 2006 will spell out in no uncertain terms all the duties carried out until now by Jokin lecturers. Ritsumeikan is ready to increase the work load of Shokutaku teachers by specifying in their contracts their obligation to perform “on request” duties such as the marking of entrance examinations, consulting time at communication rooms, preparation of speech and debate contests, etc.
This information was confirmed by Ritsumeikan after being asked by GU about the issue during the latest collective bargaining session held on 1st December. The position of the University is that activities and duties which have been treated so far in the Shokutaku contracts in generic terms as educational activities will now be articulated for the sake of clarity.
We all know the implications. We know that once these extra duties are spelled out in Shokutaku contracts, teachers won’t be able to refuse to perform them without incurring breach of contract.
Shokutaku teachers have willingly and cheerfully contributed to a significant number of Ritsumeikan’s educational endeavours without asking anything in return. However, this year marks the abolition of the Jokin scheme. As a result, the Shokutaku programme has become an academic dead-end for teachers, that is, Ritsumeikan has performed a kind of academic assassination, blockading teachers’ rights, hopes and possibilities for promotion.
Moreover, Shokutaku do not even have access to the modest fixed research funds that Jokin had, and not being based in any particular faculty, they are effectively excluded from research groups, academic dialogue and academic enquiry. Freedom of thought and the enhancement of the academy are also at stake, as a whole academic sector remains silenced, and its potential for research contribution is closed down.
We have told management our feelings regarding this new evidence of how Ritsumeikan operates unilaterally and fosters unjust labour situations. However, after four comprehensive and extensive negotiation sessions held during this year, it is difficult to believe Ritsumeikan will stop its frenetic rush to further degrade the basis of its foreign language programmes.
We had anticipated that Shokutaku labour conditions were set to become even more stressful after Ritsumeikan decided this year to decimate the Joukin programme. What we did not expect was that Ritsumeikan would start making changes to contracts without discussing such changes with Shokutaku teachers in a mutually collaborative
atmosphere, or at the very least bringing the issue to the negotiating table. We have learned that these contractual changes have been frowned upon by Ritsumeikan educators in general, especially those who are involved in foreign language education.
What Ritsumeikan is not planning to change is Shokutaku salaries. Shokutaku teachers teach more classes than Jokin teachers but receive 2 millon yen less per year. Nor is Ritsumeikan planning to change fixed-term contracts for all language teachers, despite the fact these kind of contractual schemes diminish the viability and quality of language education. The losers are not only the teachers, who are treated as disposable artifacts by management, but students alike.
Unfortunately, our negotiating sessions with Ritsumeikan have proved to be unproductive. Our petitions and demands have been rejected systematically. They have asked us without a shred of irony: “Why don’t you apply for sennin positions at Ritsumeikan?” to avoid being disposed of like chopsticks which have become part of our campaign symbols.
Does management remember that the very same guidelines written by Ritsumeikan’s Board of Trustees called for "replacing a sennin position with increased number of jokin positions in order to guarantee the direction of expanding the language classes by foreign (native) teachers"?
Does Ritsumeikan University truly wish us to believe in its “commitment to internationalization” that according to the chancellor “is drawing national and international attention and receiving recognition from all over the world”?
How can we believe this when Ritsumeikan management only knows how to say “no” to its international faculty at collective bargaining and talks? And we have had many of these sessions (see box).
Management knows how to say “no” to all the international languages we teach at Ritsumeikan. Does Ritsumeikan management realise it is also saying “no” to Ritsumeikan students’ aspirations to have a true quality foreign language education?
Does Ritsumeikan University remember that its chancellor on the university’s website has defined a university as “above all, a cooperative intellectual body based upon the dynamic relationship between students and faculty”?
List of all collective bargaining sessions and madoguchi talks held with Ritsumeikan management in 2005
Collective Bargaining
21st January 2005, 5.30 p.m
Place: Academia 21
Ritsumeikan’s answer: “No” to all demands
Collective Bargaining
31st May 2005, 6.15 p.m
Place: Soushikan 3F, room 303
Ritsumeikan’s answer: “No” to all demands
Madoguchi Kosho Briefing
14th June 2005
Madoguchi Kosho Briefing
6th September 2005
Collective Bargaining
12th October 2005, 6.00 p.m
Place: Suekawa-kinen-kaikan, Meeting Room No 3
Ritsumeikan’s answer: “No” to all demands
Collective Bargaining
1st December 2005, 6.30 p.m
Place: Suekawa-kinen-kaikan, Meeting Room No 3
Ritsumeikan’s answer: “No” to all demands
General Demands
1. Obey the Labour Standards Law.
2. Provide a union office in the university.
3. Abolish term limits from teaching staff contracts, and renew according to the Labour Standards Law and employment contracts.
4. Enrol teaching staff who you have an obligation to enrol into Unemployment Insurance.
Shokutaku Demands
1. Raise shokutaku wages to the level of the existing jokin fulltime instructors.
2. Abolish the limit of four renewals.
3. Pay the 120,000 yen/year research budget.
4. Allow shokutaku to apply for Ritsumeikan research funds.
5. Pay the housing allowance.
6. Change the Japanese name of the shokutaku position to a name that reflects the full-time status of the position.
7. Allow shokutaku flexibility to reschedule classes to attend conferences and other events that would further their professional development.
8. Allow shokutaku a voice in decision making regarding the conditions of the shokutaku.
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