On Oct 6 World Teachers Day: All Out to Join International Solidarity Movement-

On Oct 6 World Teachers Day: All Out to Join International Solidarity Movement-Statement From Japanese Teachers

All Out to Join International Solidarity Movement

――“World Teachers Day” on October 6



Capitalism has now lost their way to exist!
The time has come to organize a huge uprising from the point of production!
Financial crisis is spreading explosively all around the world. Capitalists who have gambled day in, day out, are now at a loss only to cry out: “once-in-a-century type of event” “Financial Armageddon” “global economic meltdown” Capitalism has at last reached to an impasse. It’s time for us working class to take a place as a master in the society.

Trying to distract people, the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) has contrived a presidential election of the party aiming to turn the tide of the adverse situation and to rush into a general election. But a serious global financial crisis blew out this ridiculous strategy. Whether which of the leaders, Aso of the LDP or Ozawa of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), comes to power after the next general election, the political result is quite clear. They will surely escalate their attacks to sustain their capitalist control; the dispatch of SDF (Self Defense Forces) troops to Afghanistan, the adoption of the Wider-Area Local Government System1 to carry through the privatization, the mass dismissal of 2 million civil service workers, and so on.

It was the struggle of workers, farmers and fishermen with 20 million young workers in the lead, calling out “we have a right to live!” that kicked out the Prime Minister Fukuda of the LDP. Yes, the time has come for the workers to revolt from the point of production!

[1] consolidation of the present regional administrative structure of prefectures, cities, towns and villages into about 10 very large administrative units.



The Tokyo governor issued a new notification and a head-teacher system.
The Osaka governor declared “the state of emergency in education”.
In March this year, we had a victorious success in preventing the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education (TMBE) to force disciplinary dismissal of sister NEZU Kimiko. In the meantime, the TMBE issued a new notification in July: “Guideline to deal with school personnel who might deserve undesirable discharge or suspension”. It is the new attack in order to fire sister NEZU Kimiko and sister KAWARAI Junko. This notification is, at the same time, in line with the attack of introducing the Evaluation System. Last year, the National Civil Service Law was revised and these two policies are connected and integrated. The Recommendation of the National Personnel Authority in 2008 clearly hammered out its policy to dismiss one after another those who are branded as “incompetent” or “delinquent” or “mentally or physically disordered”. It declares, “The workers who get the evaluation D will be given undesirable discharge”.

In this autumn, we launch fighting back against the adoption of new systems, Head-teacher System and New Wage System. This is the attack to dismantle the Seniority-based Wage System and to drive teachers into temporary employment, and at the same time to accomplish the rigid system of Top-down Management. In the education field too, capitalism is precipitating young workers into miserable working conditions as “working poor”.

The Osaka city governor Hashimoto, on the plea of the Financial Reconstruction, is planning to adopt the Wider-Area Local Government System by carrying out the mass dismissal of municipal workers. He declared, “The education in Osaka is in the state of emergency. The teachers who are ineffectual will be given undesirable discharge. ”

The Governor Hashimoto is trying to promote the idea of Neo-liberalism in education that is to widen the gap between students; the compulsory pronouncement of Achievement Tests, the abolition of School District System, the adoption of School Choice System, Class formed according to degree of advancement and After-school Classes, etc. It is aimed to eliminate those teachers who work to promote Free Education.

The situation in the Unite States shows us that the achievement tests and the competitions among schools are the effective way to recruit poor students to military and also serve as the means for firing teachers.

It is obvious that the Governor Hashimoto is preparing a directive similar to the October 23 Directive in 2003 of the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education. In fact, in Kadoma city in Osaka, the duty instruction was issued to a teacher who refused to stand and sing Kimigayo at the entrance ceremony in April. Hashimoto has already changed the members of the Osaka Board of Education and is steadily preparing the attack on education workers.



Reprimanded teachers are to be the first to stand at the forefront of the struggle.
The educational reform is the part of the neoliberal attack parallel with the civil service reform and the mass dismissal of 2 million civil service workers. As the neoliberal attack has now started on a large scale, the international solidarity of education workers fighting against militarization and privatization is getting all the more important.
From the current point of view, the October 23 Directive in 2003 was the first steppingstone of this attack targeted to crush the union by eliminating those education workers who stood up to fight Hinomaru and Kimigayo struggle. The indomitable teachers, at the risk of getting reprimanded, have carried on this tough struggle for five years. Through this struggle, the class unity of education workers has been developed to a tremendous level. Solid unity is the bedrock of our victory.
The reprimanded teachers are the ones who are to stand at the forefront of the struggle to fight against the attack of the mass dismissal of 2 million civil service workers! This will surely lead us to the future development of our Hinomaru and Kimigayo struggle.

Let’s mobilize 10 thousand workers to the November 2 Workers Rally and then organize a general strike!
The mass dismissal of 13 thousand workers of the Social Insurance Agency is really an awful attack. At the time of the division and privatization of the Japanese National Railways (JNR), the reprimanded railway workers who had received the recommendation were all dismissed. But this time, it is much more severe and outrageous attack. The union of the Social Insurance Agency and the All Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers’ Union nevertheless do nothing but to plead the government for “an effort to avoid undesirable discharge”. Even though the residents are rising up to protest against the closing of the Choshi City Hospital in Chiba, the All Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers’ Union, caved into the pressure of the undesirable discharge, is only asking for “the support for reemployment”.
The struggle for reinstatement of the 1047 dismissed railway workers is now in a serious crisis. The group composed of “4 Parties Concerned and 4 Organizations” is proceeding straight into the “political solution” dropping the demand of withdrawing the unjust dismissal. If the 22 years of the struggle against dismissal of 1047 national railway workers should end up in a cave-in compromise, it will offer the trigger of the attack of the mass dismissal of 20 million civil service workers.
The unions who had been supporting the JNR struggle and keeping a critical stance to Rengo, are now accepting the privatization. What is even worse, they are now playing the role of promoting the attack of the mass dismissal.
The only way to defeat the neoliberal attack and win a victory is to fight as Doro-Chiba does. Doro-Chiba, firmly and vigorously united, has been fighting against the division and the privatization of JNR, and all of the members fought bravely the 2 waves of strikes in defiance of the dismissal.

Let’s create a militant workers movement of civil service workers with the class unity and international solidarity!


A solidarity movement jointly with the “World Teachers Day” on Oct.5
Our brothers and sisters in the U.S. West Coast, including brother Steve Zeltzer and sister Arlene Inouye, are holding a rally of the “World Teachers Day” on October 5 in San Francisco. It will be a far bigger rally compared to the one held in last year, issuing the statement of the international solidarity. They are also calling for the teachers union in Puerto Rico to join in the rally.
The statement is demanding the stop of death penalty of the militant teachers in Iran; it is also voicing the protest against the coercion and reprimand of Hinomaru and Kimigayo, against the militarization and military recruiting of schools, against the privatization of education.
They are trying hard to prevent punishment of the Japanese teachers. We have to respond them with the successful organizing and mobilizing, expressing our will of solidarity.
Let’s rally in front of the Metropolitan Office to voice our anger against the notification of the Guideline and Head-teacher System. And at the same time, we would like to call on the workers of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government headquarters to join the strike against the revision of the wage system.
The November 2 Workers Rally will be a huge struggle of international solidarity. Let’s mobilize 10 thousand workers and organize a general strike, calling “We have a right to live!” Let’s make a huge torrent of working class movement and develop the struggle of Hinomaru and Kimigayo in 2009.
We are appealing to all of the fighting education workers to join in the international solidarity rally on October 6.

Initial Endorsers:
OTAKE Shoichi (Tokyo Metropolitan Public School Teachers Union)
KAWARAI Junko (Union of Tokyo Metropolitan Schools for Children with Special Needs)
SATO Etsuko (Miura Peninsula District Teachers Union)
NIHONYSNSGI Minoru (Miura Peninsula District Teachers Union)
NEZU Kimiko (Tokyo Metropolitan Public School Teachers Union/Union of Tokyo Metropolitan Schools for Children with Special Needs)
YOMEYAMA Yoshie (Tokyo Metropolitan Public School Teachers Union