Contract workers as ALTs: Illegal?

Some interesting news for any of you out there who work in Japanese public schools as ALTs:

Twenty-three municipal boards of education in Osaka Prefecture are suspected of using native English-speaking contract workers as assistant language teachers and placing them under the control of schools, a possible violation of the Temporary Staffing Services Law, an Osaka-based union announced Thursday.

[...]

A union spokesman said it was legal for the boards to use the contract workers as ALTs as long as they worked at the public schools under the direction of the staffing agencies. But he added that the boards of education had used the temporary workers like dispatch workers, who are under the direct control of schools.

According to the union comprising 550 Japanese and non-Japanese workers, which also provides consultation services for those workers, the 23 municipal boards said they received the contract workers from staffing agencies and let them work at public schools as ALTs, who are required to follow school curriculums and policies.

Does this mean that the thousands of ALTs working for privatedispatch companies such as Interac, Borderlink, RCS, Wing, and others are actually performing illegal work? Private dispatch ALTs have often complained to me that their work is illegal, and some of them who have worked for the same school district for years are continually put on one-year contracts, which is also apparently a violation of the law. Is there anyone out there who can clarify this?

15 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - March 23, 2007 at 2:03 pm

Categories: Foreigners in Japan, Teaching English Tags:

Da Kappa

You mean that it was illegal all this time?! No way. Just kidding of course. I worked for an employment agency for two years in Chiba (almost 5 years ago). At that time it was a wave that was taking over the Kanto region (Chiba, Tokyo, and Saitama). It’s getting harder to find any legit ALT work in Japan anywhere in the Metro areas. Eventually I’d guess to say that the JET program will be scrapped (in place of this retarded temp ALT slave/human tape recorder program). And that’s why I left Japan.
http://www.transpacificradio.com/2007/02/03/enoki/ Garrett

There seem to be two potential factors at work here. One is that contract employees who have worked somewhere for over two years have the same rights as full-time employees in terms of being fired, benefits, being transferred, etc. The ALT dispatch system routinely violates those rights.
The other is that school boards are supposed to hir and supervise qualified teachers, which is not done under the ALT dispatch system.
Government agencies in Kanagawa have ordered local boards of education and schools to stop the practice, but they persist. So, technically, what Interac does is illegal. I don’t know what loophole they exploit or if they just operate in violation of the law.
Da Kappa

It’s simple really. Municipal Boards of Education are allowed only a finite budget on human English tape recorders (to which are classified under as Hi-Jyokin Koushi; quite demeaning really as we are lumped in the same pool as Intern Temp teachers that rotate yearly), meanwhile regular employees (Kyo-Shokuin or Kyoin for short) which are employed by the National Government (receiving their pay and benefits Nationally) have A LOT more liberty. My English Dept. supervisor would take a year off at a time (maternity leave); so I saw her very briefly prior to my first contract year and then towards the end of my second contract told me that she was going to leave for another year (gave birth for the second time). Of course it left the English Dept. short staffed but it’s not like the school really cared, just shove the extra work on the Temps.

Funny rights are mentioned. What rights? Temp workers don’t have rights. This isn’t meant to be a “Gaijin Discrimination” issue. Because the Interns (Japanese) were treated with the same disregard as us ALT’s. Only after they pass their National Exam did they get a sliver of respect from the rest of the staff.

It’s really a matter of perspective. Some schools may regard the learning of English to be a vital part of General Education cirriculum. Meanwhile other schools patronize the “Government Mandated” English education cirriculum with Beatle Tunes of “Let it Be” (I think I’ll puke if I hear that song one more time).
Da Kappa

The logic behind this system is not that rediculous (from their perspective). Why pay a competitive salary for qualified and skilled native English teachers when they can have expendable (see: disposeable) workers. You need to understand that ALT’s (in most Metro areas) are under the jurisdiction of the Municipal’s Board of Education (and not the National MoE; like the JET program). Most Muni’s BoE supervisors (who control their ALT system) have their palms greased by these “Agencies”. As long as you work for these agencies (as an ALT) you will NEVER EVER earn more than what you started off from (even after 10+ years of service; not like anyone’s stupid enough to do that though).
http://whatjapanthinks.com Ken Y-N

Isn’t this the same story as happened last week to Yamada Denki and their abuse of staff from electronics company?

Yes, there is some law about after two years as a contract person on the same job you must be given a full-time post, but I wonder if there is an exception for foreigners?

http://www.japanprobe.com James

I’m not sure how widespread this practice is in shops like Yamada denki, but I know quite a few foreigners who have spent over 2 years in a single school district and are still working via dispatch contract. One of them, who is about to start his 5th year at the same junior high school, has pointed out the fact that this practice is illegal to the school board in the past, but they pretty much ignored him. I would think that the bottom line is that working with dispatch companies is much easier than directly hiring foreign ALTs, since there is a company staffed by Japanese that the school board can indirectly complain about an ALTs performance to, even to the point of being able to fire an ALT without actually talking to that ALT. I imagine it would be quite stressful for school teachers or even the board of education to directly confront an ALT about problems in his/her performance, and they’d much rather take the comfortable way out and have a dispatch company remove them. There are a whole lot of other issues surrounding this, but I think the comfortability factor is a major one. (I am not saying this is a fair employment practice.)

varble

I have been a contract slave for almost two years now. I have a pretty good relationship with my schools, they allow me to create my own lesson plans and teach at the pace of the students. Maybe I am lucky or maybe I just do my job well enough that everyone leaves me alone. I am supposed to work with them within the confines of a lesson plan created as a compromise between several school boards and the company over the course of many years, but the schools know its garbage. The amount of actual English education taking place is minimal, there are far too many schools, classrooms and students for one person to teach effectively and consistently.
Is the system broken? That depends on how you look at it I suppose. I see this system as merely a way of introducing the idea of English to students, who may decide to pursue it on their own outside regular classroom hours. English education in Japan is big business, and I imagine contributes a large amount of money to the economy. Believing “ALTs” are English teachers is absurd and naive. We are nothing more than recruiters for the Language industry. I see my time spent in schools as more of a culture exchange and a way for me to get paid to learn Japanese. I know the system is a joke, but there aren’t many alternative jobs for foreigners that have limited Japanese speaking ability. I know I am a pawn in a big scam, but I actually enjoy my time in the schools with the teachers and students. I would rather be doing this than suffering at NOVA like so many other foreigners I have met. The dispatch company I work for is shady as hell, but they pay me on time, and as long as I do my job well, I never have to talk to the crooks in charge.
http://www.keepingpaceinjapan.com Turner

That is rather enlightening. Coming from the other end (the eikaiwa), I thought the future of English education in Japan was going to be more dependent on ALTs rather than private businesses like NOVA, AEON, GEOS, and ECC; JET’s got the right approach for teaching kids early enough, but there will always be a call for eikaiwa.

On the other hand, I completely agree that we’re not teachers. “We are nothing more than recruiters for the Language industry” – exactly. Remember a few weeks ago, when there was a call for a “blonde hair, blue-eyed” English teacher in the classified? It wasn’t that much of a leap, nor was it inherently discriminatory – we’re filling a role, nothing more. The role schools want to see is the culturally-differentiated foreigner, with his blonde hair, his blue eyes, and speaking English. It’s nothing more than a casting decision.

I’m not sure how much the system is to blame in terms of longevity; if you’re knowingly working as a part-time ALT for several years, I wouldn’t think you would expect benefits or the same considerations as full-time teachers. Regardless of whether you’ve been working in the same school that whole time, your status as a part-time worker is pretty obvious. I’m not completely familiar with the law surrounding part-time workers in Japan, but I will say they get the short end of the stick. Eikaiwa intentionally bring “teachers” into 29.5 hour workweeks just to avoid all the benefits that come from working 30+ hours/week. I tried explaining to management one time, that my status in the school really was, according to the law, part-time, but no one seemed to believe me. There’s so much more I can say there, but I don’t want to rant.
Da Kappa

I’ve been on both sides of the fence (working as an ALT for the glorious city of Urayasu, Chiba) and as an English Language Whore (oops I meant teacher) for the “not as bad as Nova” company, GEOS. There are plus and minus sides to both industries but by in large I agree with both Turner and with Varble. The only undeniable truth to both industries is that (short of paying some huge bribe to the people above) there is absolutely no way that you will see a “light at the end of the tunnel” in either jobs. Although, in the world of an ALT you could go to University and get a PHD and come back to teach at the Collegiate level (like Arudo). But is that really the path that most ALT’ers want to go? Similarly, would anyone who works at any of these (Mikkey D) English Language Schools want to pursue higher education for the remote (and I use that sparingly) possibility of getting a pay raise?

Probably not.

So I say to all JET’ers out there. Treasure your tenure as an ALT in the JET program. You could do a lot worse in Japan even though they may be doing the exact same work (and shoulder the same if not more responsibility) as you (and believe me many other ALT’ers are suffering a lot more than you). If you work for Nova I’d recommend trying out for one of these Temp Job ALT work. It’s definitely better than what you’re doing right now. I know I was glad to shift industries.

http://www.japanprobe.com James

If you work for Nova I’d recommend trying out for one of these Temp Job ALT work. It’s definitely better than what you’re doing right now. I know I was glad to shift industries.

I definitely agree. Working as a contract ALT gave me a job where I had hours of free time every day at work to build this site into what it is today.

Natasha

I’m considering applying at a company as a contract ALT. From your experience are there any companies which you would recommend or perhaps ones to stay away from?
D∀ST

In Japan you can contract as haken ( temp-staff) or Ukeoi ( in charge of project) most ALT companies are not allowed to work as temp unless they have a licence to do so. Reality is that a large number of ALTs have in the past screwed things up by leaving as they feel or getting arrested which has forced most BOEs to rid the aftermath of when such happens. If you are not an official teacher then this is the reality. If you are qualified as a Teacher and not an instructor then you shouldn’t have to work for Temps and try to get work directly. But if temp agencies are not legal that would shut down 35% of employment in Japan. So it is legal
Shane

I’ve worked with teachers who are complete nutcases and mentally unstable pschopaths who wouldn’t be fit to work back home. I’ve had to work with unprofessional, immature, lazy, tardy, pediophillic, chronically late, totally emotional, backstabbing, unintelligent, illiterate violent, short-tempered, cheap-ass, short, fat, smelly and complete dumb/jack ass teachers. Seriously the eikaiwa industry needs to take a serious look at who they hire. There’s no proper screening process behavioral – psycho test before they get hired. I truly feel sorry for the Japanese students who like to waste their money on these foolish clowns.
Seriously, you lose brain cells if you do this degrading job, like a monkey on a leash performing to gullible customers. The only people making the money are the fat cats at the top. You get no pay raises, and no benefits that all the other full-time Japanese workers get. That’s the truth and fact of Eikaiwa and the English teaching industry in Japan.
Phoenix

If you or someone you know is having problems with the ALT company that they are with then you should contact me. I am a fellow ALT who is trying to help change this system, however one voice won’t do it, I need more then just my voice. SO if you are willing to work and fight for the change so that we can get the recognition and pay that we deserve contact me with your story and I will contact you back.
fushishou@gmail.com
Jezibel

Phoenix,

I want to respond to your message. I am an ALT and have been
with one of the biggest ALT providers in Japan for just over 4 years. I’m sure you know the one. We are getting so ripped off and they just keep getting richer taking away our money, etc. I really want a direct hire. I’ve been in Japan for almost 9 bloody years teaching English.
So, what I think we should do is start a petition and get as many ALTs and other dispatch workers to sign it and take it the the labour board, Ministry of Education and BOEs. I think this is our best bet. I’d even be willing to pay for an ad. in the Japan Times just to get all of us together and have our voices heard. Also, we could use the Metropolis.This morning as I was walking to my school, I was thinking we should shoot a video on UTube, ya know using a little muppet, so we won’t lose our pitiful jobs. What a joke this whole thing is. Hello Kitty does have a mouth and she can talk…boy can she talk….
Seriously, mate let’s do something.
Your gmail didn’t work for me.

Contract workers as ALTs: Illegal?

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