BERLIN, 1 September 2023 – The IWW TEFL Workers Union is calling for international solidarity with whistleblower Marina.
Our fellow worker Marina worked as an online language teacher for the British Council until she was fired after raising health and safety concerns related to the online scheduling system used to assign language students to teachers.
The British Council is ostensibly a charity, but has become increasingly profit-oriented. The resulting deterioration in working conditions is particularly evident in the outsourcing of language courses to a commercial agency. Since the language courses have been outsourced to Flexy, a subsidiary of the Impellam Group, the online teachers are forced to sign up for their courses as soon as they are made available – sometimes in the middle of the night! – to secure their hours. Teachers report anxiety, stress and sleep loss as a result of this practice. According to the IWW TEFL Workers Union, Marina was dismissed for raising concerns about this with the British Council.
Firing whistleblowers is an intimidation tactic. It has a chilling effect on workers making them afraid to speak out, to talk to their colleagues, or to organize. The Culture and Media Section of FAU Berlin is calling on the British Council to reinstate Marina with full back pay, to ensure the protection of whistleblowers, and to take responsibilty for improving working conditions. For a healthy working environment. For all workers. Everywhere.
When? Wednesday, 6 September 2023 12:00
Where? In front of the British Council, Berolinahaus, Alexanderplatz 1, 10178 Berlin
For more information, please see:
Protests planned at the British Council after alleged whistleblower sacked