大学非常勤講師という職業をご存じでしょうか。大学で主に授業だけを行うパートタイムの教員のことで、通常1年ごとの契約を毎年繰り返します。国立大学法人大阪大学には約1100名の非常勤講師がいますが、このうち、10年以上働く非常勤講師約100名を2023年3月31日付で解雇しました。そして、これは今年で終わりではありません。今後も毎年、勤続5年、10年を超える非常勤講師が大量に解雇されていきます。なぜこのようなことが起こっているのでしょうか。それは無期雇用転換権を認めさせないためです。5年以上働いた非常勤講師に無期転換権を認めないというのは労働契約法違反ですし、無期転換権が生じる直前での解雇は悪質な脱法行為です。

本来、無期雇用転換権というのは2013年に「有期雇用労働者の雇用の安定を図る」ためにできた法律（労働契約法第18条）で、1年ごとの有期契約を5年繰り返した労働者から申し出があったときは、無期転換を認める必要があります。ただし、研究機関や大学で働く研究者は、この5年を10年に延長しています（労契法の特例）。その適用開始が2013年なので、阪大は2022年度での雇止めを行っているのです。さらに、阪大は2022年度から非常勤講師の規程を改悪し、10年でなく5年での雇止めを強行しました（同時に大幅な賃下げも行いました）。

こんなことが続いていけば、カリキュラムの縮小や授業数の減少、語学クラスの多人数化などにより、教育の質を保障できず、学生にとってもデメリットが生じることになります。

 

 

これを撤回させるため、私たちは2012年から何度も交渉を続けてきましたが、全く改善されず、2023年2月9日、私たち阪大非常勤講師の有志4名が阪大の提訴に踏み切りました。

この問題は何よりも人間の尊厳の問題であると、私たちは考えています。非常勤講師は高度専門教育を担うのに必要な学位・業績・経験を求められるにもかかわらず、何の身分保障もないまま、誠実に学生たちの教育にあたっています。そして今回提訴に至ったのは100名のうちの4人ですが、声を上げることすらできない、同じ立場の非常勤講師が大勢いることをぜひ想像していただきたいと思っています。この国に生きる同じ人間として認めてほしいという思いでいっぱいです。

どうか私たちの闘いへのご支援をよろしくお願いします。

 

大阪大学非常勤講師雇止め裁判原告　新屋敷　健、浦木貴和、他2名

【English version】
We demand that Osaka University stop dismissing so many part-time lecturers and accept their applications for unlimited term contracts.
We also demand that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology, as the supervising ministry for national universities, instruct the university to comply with the Labor Contract Law!

Have you ever heard of the occupation of part-time university lecturers? They are part-time faculty members who primarily teach classes at universities, typically under fixed-term contracts that are renewed annually.

Osaka University, a public national university, employs approximately 1,100 part-time lecturers. However, at the end of the 2022 academic year on March 31, 2023, they dismissed around 100 part-time lecturers who had worked for more than 10 years. This practice is not limited to this year alone. In the future, a significant number of part-time instructors who have served for more than 5 or 10 years will continue to be terminated. Why is this happening? The university’s intention is to circumvent the Labor Contract Law and avoid providing unlimited term contracts. It is a violation of the Labor Contract Law’s provisions on unlimited employment to reject applications for unlimited term contracts from part-time instructors who have completed the necessary five years of service. Terminating their employment before they become eligible to apply for unlimited term contracts is a deliberate act of evading the law.

Originally, the right to unlimited-term conversions was established in 2013 with the goal to “ensure stable employment for workers with fixed-term contracts” (Article 18 of the Labor Contract Law). According to this provision, if a worker with a fixed-term contract renews their contract repeatedly for more than five years and applies for an unlimited term contract, the application must be accepted. However, for researchers at research institutes and universities, a special provision of the Labor Contract Law requires them to work for more than 10 years before becoming eligible to apply for unlimited term contracts. Since the application of this provision began in 2013, Osaka University terminated the employment of part-time lecturers in the academic year 2022. Furthermore, the university revised the working regulations for part-time lecturers, imposing a term limit of 5 years instead of 10 years (while simultaneously significantly reducing their wages).

If this continues, the quality of education cannot be guaranteed, and students will be at a disadvantage due to the reduced curriculum, fewer class offerings, and larger language classes.

To address this issue, we have engaged in repeated negotiations with the university since 2012. However, despite our efforts, there has been no noticeable improvement. As a result, on February 9, 2023, we four union members who are part-time lecturers took the decisive step of filing a lawsuit against Osaka University.

We firmly believe that this issue primarily concerns human dignity. Part-time lecturers are expected to possess the qualifications, accomplishments, and expertise necessary to deliver highly specialized education. However, they carry out their teaching responsibilities without any assurance of their employment status. While only four out of a hundred have taken the step of filing a lawsuit, it is important to consider the countless part-time instructors within the university who are unable to voice their grievances. We are driven by a profound longing to be acknowledged as individuals who deserve recognition and respect as fellow citizens of this country.

Please support us in our struggle.