Benesse (Berlitz)

Benesse is a Japanese corporation from Okayama City that purchased Berlitz from Rupert Murdoch in the 1990s.

It is a publicly traded company with its head office in Japan and branch offices throughout the world.

Berlitz schools are located in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Canada, the United States and throughout Europe.

In 2006, unionized Berlitz schools existed in Japan and South Korea. Berlitz Japan has roughly 1000 English teachers making it one of the 5 largest private language schools in Japan.

In Japan, Benesse also publishes Japanese dictionaires which are supplied to public schools. With the aim to enter the public school testing market, in the 1990s, Benesse sub-contracted the testing company ACT in Iowa to create a standardized test similar to the TOEIC test for junior high and high school students in Japan.

Unionized employees of Berlitz are currently hired to mark this Benesse test.

In 2004, Berlitz and other private language schools in Japan were the subject of a investigation by the Social Insurance Office of Japan for not enrolling teachers into the Japanese government's mandatory health insurance plan.

Berlitz Branch Union in Japan...
 * http://berlitz.generalunion.org