Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2013 November 20 - 26 [LABOR]

Union accuses Waseda of using ‘disguised contract workers’

A union at Waseda University is arguing that outsourcing of language courses by the university will lead to the illegal practice of “disguised contract work”.

Waseda University contracts out an English language course, one of compulsory courses for graduation, to the university-funded Waseda University International Corporation.

The Waseda Union, a branch of the Union of University Part-Time Lecturers in Tokyo Area, on October 23 filed at the Tokyo Labor Bureau a complaint claiming that the use of contract firms to teach courses on the university curriculum may result in the use of “disguised contract workers”.

The union cited the law on contract service which prohibits outsourcing companies from giving direct instructions and orders to their contract workers and the School Education Act which requires all schools to directly give instructions and orders to teaching staff.

Based on these two laws, if Waseda gives direct instructions and order to teachers from the Waseda contractor, this labor practice would be regarded as disguised contract work.

The university management said to Akahata that the teachers will give English classes to students in accordance with specification documents provided from the university to the contractor company, not with direct instructions from the university.

The Labor Ministry, however, has been explaining that giving not only oral instructions but also detailed written descriptions to contractors could be considered as a practice of “disguised contract work”.

Waseda Union representative Ono Eiji said, “Illegal practice of ‘disguised contract work’ should be prevented at universities which are supposed to show a high degree of morality.”