About 40 foreign English teachers urged the government Friday to take steps to eradicate the serious problems they face on the job, including low wages and sudden dismissal.
The foreigners -- living mainly in the Kanto region -- made the request during a 90-minute meeting in Tokyo with three House of Representatives members of the Democratic Party of Japan and officials from the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry and the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry.
Louis Carlet, a deputy secretary general of the National Union of General Workers, Tokyo South, said in the meeting that the economic slowdown in recent years has adversely affected working conditions for non-Japanese English teachers at private language schools, public schools and universities.