Begunto victory inked on Friday.

Congratulations goes out to Begunto’s stunning victory after striking for less than a month. The members won the promised wage hikes for seniority and performance pay teachers and also managed to get an agreement mitigating the damage from the new 40-40 contracts. The union agreed to “discuss” various issues, such as jimu-sessho (one-on-one talks), members from other branches attending collective bargainings (Berlitz wants to regulate them) and work rule (shugyo kisoku) changes. Berlitz is really smarting from the strikes and has asked us to promise to give them more warning. The union advised management on where to place such a proposal.

On the same day, management also signed an agreement settling an unfair dismissal case.

This dispute shows how unity and persistence together make for a powerful organization capable of realizing demands. A strong minority of members even believed the union could have won more if we had held out longer. The majority of Begunto voted to accept the latest concessions, however, so we did.