We are proud to announce the formation of the Kaplan Pathways Workers for Justice. After years of organising in the TEFL Workers’ Union, we thought it was finally time to make it official.
What is it?
This campaign challenges the unfair working practices championed by Kaplan and brings workplace organisation, solidarity, aid, support, training and legal advice to all Kaplan Workers. As part of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) union, Kaplan Pathways Workers for Justice will build on skills and experience gained from IWW members and officers, whether they work for Kaplan or not.
Why do we need a union?
At Kaplan – a multinational company providing private education services to international students enrolled on university courses in the US, UK and Australia – most workers face the insecurity of part-time, hourly-paid, and fixed-term contracts.
We have seen these ongoing issues with both English and subject tutors, all of whom are eligible for IWW membership.
The union is already active at Kaplan Pathways, fighting back against the precarity far too many of us face in our working lives.
In an important victory, a teacher challenged the non-renewal of their their fixed-term contract. With union support, the worker successfully argued that the fixed-term contract was not legitimate and, in reality, they were a permanent employee. With the backing of an experienced union representative, the teacher has been offered reinstatement, plus back pay for time off work.
This builds on other TEFL Workers’ Union victories at Kaplan’s private language school arm, Kaplan International. Coming out of last year’s redundancy process, staff and union activists organised to ensure Kaplan accepted the permanent status of supposedly fixed-term employees, resulting in a significantly larger redundancy payouts and Kaplan moving all remaining teachers onto permanent contracts.
These victories give us the confidence that now is the time to campaign as Kaplan Pathways Workers for Justice in line with the aims of the IWW. We have organised in colleges in the UK and USA for many years and we are sick and tired of seeing workers being exploited. Now is the time to act!
How are we going to make higher education partner providers better places to work?
We aim to build on the networks we have – workers, reps, officers, legal teams and activists – whilst working alongside other trade unions and activist groups to support and build solidarity with and between Kaplan workers.
We will be organising workplaces, providing training on your legal rights including health and safety, contracts, grievances & disciplinaries as well as organising social events, running union representative training sessions and so much more.
We are a member-led union and rely on the mutual support and input from our members, officers and activists, so we invite you to get involved.
Remember that the union is open to all non-managerial workers at Kaplan Pathways or any other part of the company. If you work at Kaplan, we’ve got your back!
If you have any issues at work or would like to find out more:
Email us at [email protected]
Follow us on Twitter @kaplanworkers
Join the union at https://teflworkersunion.org/join/