begunto is celebrating it’s 30th anniversary!

Begunto has a long, illustrious history as a fighting union  going back a quarter century

begunto, 2025 shunto demands:

1. Limit lesson monitorings for instructors with an eCFF rating equal to or higher than the national average, to one per year. Alternatively, retain two observations per year, ensuring that they are limited to non-evaluative “coaching sessions” that affect neither instructor compensation nor performance reviews.

2. Implement an 8% pay increase for all instructors over the next two fiscal years.

3. Guarantee at least one office unit per day for every instructor, and ensure that office units (non-teaching time for lesson preparation and administrative tasks) are fairly and consistently distributed across all instructors each day.

4. Align paid sick leave entitlements by increasing instructors’ annual allowance to 10 paid sick days, matching the policy currently applied to Head Office employees. This longstanding request reflects the Union’s commitment to equal treatment across all roles.

5. Replace the “Happy Monday” policy with a day-in lieu system, ensuring that all Berlitz Japan employees receive the same number of paid national holidays annually.

6. Ensure fair and transparent scheduling practices that take travel times into account, reduce unnecessary travel units (specifically, swapping instructors between schools when it would be more cost effective to have them remain in one LC) and prevent abuse (e.g., having instructors start and finish at Language Centers far from home with home Language Center units in the middle). A trained and designated scheduling contact must be assigned to receive and resolve complaints within two weeks of submission.

7. Recalibrate the weighting of eCFF responses to ensure a balanced evaluation system in which positive (“Satisfied”) feedback carries proportionate influence and is not outweighed by isolated negative responses.

8. Expand travel pay to two units for travel between Language Centers that typically takes 30 minutes or more, to account for potential train delays and logistical issues that can interfere with timely arrival.

In January 2024 the union secured: A pay rise for ALL instructors, A higher commutation budget, Earlier permanent employment, Reduced lesson monitoring

March 13, 2020 Begunto wins CTL’s, Personal days, and salary grades!