Monthly Archive for November, 2004

Risk management/Disaster preparation

November 23, 2004

You don’t have to be a pessimist to think that Tokyo fits pretty closely the definition of “a disaster waiting to happen”. Most responsible corporate citizens are aware of this fact, and take steps to ensure that their employees get regular training in emergency procedures. Berlitz, too, has developed (at the union’s request) a manual on Risk Management, which should be posted in the LC. If you haven’t seen it, please ask your IS or LCM. There are many good recommendations in this manual, including things that the union has been asking for all year, such as regular fire drills, and training to make sure all staff know how to get out of the building,etc.

The only problem, though, is that no one seems to have given any thought to implementation. If we are to prepare for a disaster that could happen at the workplace during working hours, then it makes sense that the preparation should also happen at the workplace, during working hours. The union is demanding paid methods for all staff to participate in drills and familiarize themselves with emergency procedures. Management has yet to come up with a concrete plan, but, in the meantime, all members are urged to bring this up with local management at their next staff meeting. As the manual itself warns, there is not much point reading it for the first time during a quake.

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BE Prepared

November 23, 2004

As all English teachers know, BE 5-8 can be extremely difficult to teach, and sometimes next to impossible if you don’t happen to have an MBA , MEd, or both. In spite of this, management has so far been allowing teachers in some LC’s to go into classrooms with no chance of looking over the material beforehand, with the result that students, instead of receiving a well-prepared, professional lesson, get to sit by while the teacher basically trains himself/herself to use the material.

The union brought this to the attention of management, and demanded that teachers be paid for the time necessary to prepare for lessons. Management at first expressed reluctance, claiming that Berlitz has traditionally paid prep time only for actual physical preparation – making photocopies for TOEIC classes, or collecting cards for kids’ classes, etc. – and that preparation such as reading the manual was considered “familiarization” with the text, and had never been paid. The union doesn’t particularly care what it is called – preparation, familiarization, whatever – but, if it means that the employee is spending time looking at a BE text instead of relaxing with a cup of coffee/having a smoke/reading the latest union update, it is WORK and must be paid. Management conceded that the matter of preparation needed to be reconsidered, and has promised a response this week. We look forward to a solution to this problem which has already gone on too long.

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