The Union News Vol. 1, No. 6, 7 July 2000

The Union News, an English newsletter of the Hokuriku University Union,is published from time to time as need arises in the (anonymous) editors'judgment.

Union To Turn 5 Years Old;
Lecture and Party Set for July 15
July 2000 marks the fifth anniversary of the Union’s establishment. To celebrate its glorious and turbulent history and to discuss what would lie ahead, Chairman Mitsuaki Tamura himself arranged a get-together.  Date: Saturday, July 15. Time: 5 pm to 8:30 p.m.
The venue is KKR Hotel Kanazawa (formerly Kaikan Kaga) at 32 Otemachi 2-chome. Phone: 264-3261.
The two-part event will fesature a one-hour lecture by Prof. Kazumichi Goga of Kanazawa University, who also teaches at Hokuriku University on a part-time basis.
Expect to hear a lot about labor economics which he specializes in.  The buffet party will follow the serious session.
All this costs you only 1,000 yen.
Mark your calendar now and be sure to fill in the questionnaire distributed to you earlier, and return it to either Prof. Koshi Okano or Prof. Toshio Shimazaki by Wednesday, July 12.

Bonus Negotiations To Go On
Check your banknote. The University management had unilaterally served notice that it would pay the summer bonus on Friday, July 7.
While the money obviously would be useful, the Union is ready to press the management to pay the summer bonus equivalent to 2.5 months of base monthly salary.
The amount you received on the day should equal only 2.4 months.
The collective bargaining is far from over. As a matter of fact, the two sides agreed to meet next on Monday, July 10 at the conference room on the Pharmaceutical
Sciences campus. Members other than those on the executive committee may or may not observe it.
At the next meeting the Union is likely to charge the opponents with bad faith. There have been ample symptoms of a serious mental state if not illness: refusing to take the collective bargaining seriously. This may be calledunion allergy. But the management representative simply must overcome thenew kind of allergy as the laws stipulate that the management must hold negotiations sincerely and in good faith.
The simple fact is that University chairman of the board never showed up at any one of the past 69 bargaining sessions. Besides, mere managers who cannot represent the management dare to open mouths as when the managingdirector in charge of personnel came late on July 4.
The Union is determined to pursue further the money or executive compensation issue while pressing for paying 2.5 months in the summer bonus. There still remains one (or more executives) receiving a fantastic amount of reward beyond the education ministry's 22 million yen guideline.
For detail, see the Union News, No. 157 issued on July 7.
Meanwhile, the management mouth piece titled "With" (No. 9, 2000) disclosed some figures. Ignoring the
Union's demand for full disclosure, the house organ is refusing to divulge any breakdowns of personnel cost. The labor cost for AY 2000 budget is simply stated: 2,791,860,000 yen, period.
As the more reliable Union News pointed out in No. 156, published on July 3, the management persistently failed to present the Union with convincing data that might justify bonus reduction.
When Secretary-General Koshi Okano pointed out at the July 4 session that both office and teaching staff failed to receive larger amounts of bonuses in the past when the applicants surpassed 10,000, the management rep merely nodded. The secretary went on to ask why the Union should receive less in bonus now, the man again nodded. Nodding is not exactly what the 
Union wants to see. If Okano-sensei, the eloquent and reasonable spokesperson, is right, why doesn't the management accept the Union's proposal, demandor what-not?
In order to get its message across, the Union executive committee is considering other means such as appealing to masses of people on the street (who hopefully would include our students' parents).