"Rights are never given, only asserted"

A message from Bob Tench, President of the Nova Union of Teachers

The Nova Union of Teachers has a new president (me) and a new website (here). I took over the president's job from Chris Carter on Sunday, 31st August, around 7 pm. The new website was launched on-line at one minute past midnight on the morning of Saturday, 20th September 2003.

When I was considering taking on this job I thought carefully about how to improve the effectiveness of the Union. It was clear that good communications was the key. Nova employees, both teachers and staff, are spread far and wide throughout the Kanto region, which is the area we cover. The old methods of communicating and organizing weren't working and membership was dwindling. Ignore the new era and you're ignoring most of the people who need, or want to join, a collective organization like ours. These days almost everyone is on-line, and that means communications. So the first thing we did was buy the new domain name “www.novaunion.com” from union funds. 100 US dollars for six years − it was a bargain. Now we can easily reach out to all Nova employees in Japan, and moreover, all potential Nova employees worldwide (from me - a sincere welcome to the party!).

I sincerely hope that this website will become not only the centre of activity and communication for the Union, but also a major centre of activity for all things of importance in our daily lives in Japan. Obviously we haven't had time to put a lot of things in here yet, but we're working on it all the time. We'd also like you to contribute! As you'll see if you continue reading my message below, we definitely are not an autocratic organization. Hopefully we're the opposite, a true democracy, although it's a high ideal. Please explore the site and join in, and don't hesitate to give feedback, so we can try to make it better. I hope you'll become a regular visitor.

 

A self-help organization

I've been asked several times, “What can the Union do for me?” My best answer is that the Union is a kind of “self-help organization”.

There are times when people join together to help each other and to help themselves. If things are not right. people have to take matters sometimes into their own hands, but they can't always do that individually. A group can do things that an individual can't. Sometimes people have to work as groups in order to get what is fair and what is right. I'd like to quote Martin Luther King, who said, “Rights are never given, only asserted.” That's what we have to do and that's why we have a Union, because asserting our rights as a group is a lot easier than trying it on your own.

Nova is a big company in Japan. A Nova employee on his or her own is small. It's a severely unbalanced distribution of power. Joining the Union is for you a way of redressing the balance. Moreover, a labour union is recognized under Japanese law and given special legal rights. Did you know, for example, that the company is legally obliged to consult the Union about changes is working conditions?

Article 2 of the Labour Law states, “Working conditions should be determined by the workers and employers on an equal basis. ”

Surprising then, that some detrimental changes have happened without the Union being consulted. That Nova is so contemptuous of its legal obligations is of considerable concern to me, and I consider it one of my top priorities to change their bad attitude.

If Nova tries to worsen working conditions for everyone and you protest as an individual employee, Nova can simply ignore you. Or worse, penalize you for not being acquiescent. (We all know it happens - it's one of the ways Nova tries to make sure its employees stay compliant.)

If on the other hand you're a Union member, and the Union protests on your behalf or on behalf of all members, Nova is legally obliged to listen and to negotiate. This is called “collective bargaining”.

Another major strength of the Union is to protect you against unfair actions against you as an individual employee. If, for example, Nova wants to dismiss you or not renew your contract and you're a Union member, the Union can insist that Nova meet the Union and you, to talk about your case fairly and with proper legal guidelines. This is called a “grievance procedure”. This can also be used for anything that the company tries to force on you that you think is unreasonable, such as a transfer to another school, an unfavourable shift change, a slew of probably bogus student "complaints" to justify a poor evaluation, or being made to teach kids when you don't want to.

 

We are democratic

The Union is first and foremost a democratic organization. Without members the Union doesn't function.

The power lies with the members. The members decide what the Union does and doesn't do. The Union is the members, and the members are the Union. They voted me in as president, and they can vote me out. They can get rid of me if they think I ain't doing the job the way they want me to do the job.

united@work is our new logo and our raison d'etre.

The members also decide policy: which issues to pursue; what improvements to ask for and pressure for. Obviously the more members there are, the more pressure can be exerted. You help yourself by joining and you help others.

I expect you're thinking there must be a downside to this. (Well... I would.) Of course, it's not free - Union dues are ￥2500 per month. It's not a big sum of money but you're still not going to pay that amount every month for no reason. The majority of that goes to our parent union the NUGW. The NUGW employs a small number of full and part-time staff. They provide all our backup facilities up to and including legal muscle when the going gets hairy. The rest covers our Union's expenses (the website, phone bills, printing, campaigns etc.). I and the other executive members work for free.

The other big duty you have as a Union member is that you absolutely must, if you possibly can, attend all General Meetings. It's an unfortunate obligation but a very necessary one. We have a legal obligation, through the Union constitution, to operate democratically. The General Meetings are the expression of that democracy. We have to meet a quorum to make decisions, and without it our decisions have no legal validity. Fortunately, General Meetings don't happen often, perhaps three times a year at most. The minimum is just one, the Annual General Meeting.

If all of us use this democratic framework to act collectively, our potential to cause change in the company is enormous. This potential power of the Union has in recent years been largely unused and unfulfilled. I took the president's job because I want to change that. Collectively, Nova employees are a sleeping tiger. I think the time is right to join the Union and empower ourselves. It's time to wake up.

The 2003 Annual General Meeting is coming right up on 16th November. More details will be posted soon. You don't have to be a member to come, and you can join at the meeting if you want to.

I look forward to seeing you there,

Bob