Ministry Slaps Down Nova

[Midwinter]

Unions suck.

Another idiotic statement by the site's master on the subject. Good going Lurker, guess you'll be on your own if, or more realisitically, when the shit hits the fan on your J-career. GJ!

For once, I agree with everything KJ said. Fuck'em! Let'em swim home...

[Mulboyne]

[FG Lurker]

Another idiotic statement by the site's master on the subject. Good going Lurker, guess you'll be on your own if, or more realisitically, when the shit hits the fan on your J-career. GJ!

If you're depending on a union (especially a Japanese one) to protect your sorry ass then you're already fucked.

[Midwinter]

If you're depending on a union (especially a Japanese one) to protect your sorry ass then you're already fucked.

heh, shows what you know.

[FG Lurker]

heh, shows what you know.

Only the very bottom rung on the labour ladder needs and uses unions. Is that where you want to be? Personally I have higher aspirations.

[Midwinter]

Only the very bottom rung on the labour ladder needs and uses unions. Is that where you want to be? Personally I have higher aspirations.

Oh, so middle management don't need unions? Or is it that you want to be an employer and think that you can side step the law? Either way, you're fooling yourself kiddo.

[FG Lurker]

Oh, so middle management don't need unions?

Is that all you aspire to? Sad.

Or is it that you want to be an employer and think that you can side step the law?

Who said anything about side-stepping the law? I just don't wish to work at a level where I would need to join a union.

Either way, you're fooling yourself kiddo.

If you're old enough to call me "kiddo" and still haven't risen beyond being a worker-bee union member.... My condolences.

[Midwinter]

I just don't wish to work at a level where I would need to join a union.

Go be unemployed then, good luck with that!

[FG Lurker]

Go be unemployed then, good luck with that!

Losing my job today would have exactly zero impact on my financial situation.

[james]

Either way, you're fooling yourself kiddo.

tarnations! all down but nine as usual. don't you get tired being euchered all the time? you really come across as a shave tail for someone who's been here nigh onto seven years. hell, if i was you kiddo i'd just throw up the sponge.

[kusai Jijii]

Unions suck.

Lurk,
I think the point here is this. IF you had no other options but to work at a shithole like Nova, and IF you were stupid enough to not have saved even enough for a one-way ticket home if something went balls-up (e.g. the Kobe earthquake, etc), and on top of this IF you were so screwed up as to think that loosing your job at Nova was one of the worst tradgedies that could happen to you, THEN not to pay union dues or unemployment insurance is just the height of stupididty.
Thats all I'm saying.

[American Oyaji]

FGL,
Teachers have unions. And they aren't exactly on the lowest end of the labour ladder depending on where you work.

I was makeing $50K a year at the Phone company and union member ship was mandatory. At least the union dues were mandatory.

[FG Lurker]

Teachers have unions. And they aren't exactly on the lowest end of the labour ladder depending on where you work.

Union members are always at the bottom of the pile in the labour pool to which they belong. As soon as you rise above being the guy who is actually doing the day-to-day work you are no longer in the union.

I was makeing $50K a year at the Phone company and union member ship was mandatory. At least the union dues were mandatory.

Yes, you were one of the guys doing the day-to-day work. You probably worked far harder than your boss for a lot less money -- plus you had the pleasure of paying union dues too.

[FG Lurker]

Lurk,
I think the point here is this. IF you had no other options but to work at a shithole like Nova, and IF you were stupid enough to not have saved even enough for a one-way ticket home if something went balls-up (e.g. the Kobe earthquake, etc), and on top of this IF you were so screwed up as to think that loosing your job at Nova was one of the worst tradgedies that could happen to you, THEN not to pay union dues or unemployment insurance is just the height of stupididty.
Thats all I'm saying.

It sounds to me like you're saying people who are very stupid should join unions.

[Mulboyne]

Lurk, you wrote "unions suck". Later you seem to say they are useful for some people but not for you. I think the latter position is an easier one to take on the back of the social and economic freedoms which trade unions around the world helped establish.

[American Oyaji]

FGL, my supervisor was also in the union.

[FG Lurker]

Lurk, you wrote "unions suck". Later you seem to say they are useful for some people but not for you.

It is my opinion that unions suck, and I would never take a job that required me to join a union. I can understand the reasons why many people like unions but I strongly disagree that all workers should be treated equally. Those who perform well should be rewarded. Those who perform poorly should be fired. Unions stop that from happening. To me, that sucks.

I think the latter position is an easier one to take on the back of the social and economic freedoms which trade unions around the world helped establish.

I agree that historically unions have made important contributions to society. In developing countries where labour laws are weak or nonexistent unions still have work to do. I do not see unions as being a positive influence in a modern democratic society.

[FG Lurker]

FGL, my supervisor was also in the union.

Sure, but no one with real power was.

[Mulboyne]

I do not see unions as being a positive influence in a modern democratic society.

Do you believe that unions helped create modern democratic societies?

[FG Lurker]

Do you believe that unions helped create modern democratic societies?

Yes, I believe unions played a role in increasing the power of the common man.

I am not ungrateful for what unions have done historically, I just don't see them as being a positive influence in developed economies today.

[Mulboyne]

FG Lurker's news about NOVA and G.communication is getting more coverage in English now:
Asahi: Company to reopen 30 Nova schools

A language school operator will reopen 30 English schools of failed Nova Corp., bankruptcy administrators said, but the plan has not appeased many students who may lose their prepaid fees. G.education Co., a subsidiary of the Nagoya-based management consultant G.communication group, plans to eventually take over 200 of Nova's 670 schools, but will initially hold classes in the 30 most profitable ones. The Nova schools that are not taken over will remain closed and the company will be liquidated, according to the administrators. G.education, which operates cram schools and 42 English conversation schools mainly in Hokkaido, will take over Nova's in-class operations, TV-telephone lessons, and programs for children.

"We'd like to reopen the 30 schools as soon as possible and try to keep many students and staff," Takashi Ono, president of G.education, said at a news conference Tuesday night. "We'd like to basically rehire staff (if they wish)." Nova, the largest operator of English conversation schools in Japan, filed for bankruptcy protection in October with liabilities totaling 43.9 billion yen. Nova also failed to pay wages to thousands of employees and teachers. The company has collected 60 billion to 70 billion yen in advanced payments from students, according to the bankruptcy administrators.

The administrators said that those wishing to work again must first resign from Nova and then be hired by G.education. However, G.communication does not plan to assume Nova's debt, so there will be no way to pay refunds to former Nova students who have completed their cancellation procedures, the administrators added. G.education will offer lessons to the Nova students for fees that are 25 percent the rate of Nova's, but many students are not happy with the plan. A 30-year-old woman who attended a Nova school in Tokyo's Toshima Ward questioned why students have to pay 25 percent extra for classes they have already paid for.

A 72-year-old man who has taken French lessons at Nova for the past 12 years or so said, "I had thought I'd be able to continue as before with the only difference being the management." He said he is still owed about 150,000 yen's worth of lessons. He also fears that the French classes will be scrapped under the new management. For others, the Nova ordeal has turned them off such lessons. A woman in her 30s, who attended Nova classes once or twice a week for about seven years in Osaka, said, "We students just lost our money." She is still owed about 100,000 yen's worth of lessons. "I am angry with myself for paying so much to a company that turned out to be so awful," she said. "I don't think I can motivate myself for some time." G.communication officials said they have not decided if they will use the Nova name in the future.

[Iraira]

FG Lurker's news about NOVA and G.communication is getting more coverage in English now:
Asahi: Company to reopen 30 Nova schools

Can't see why they'd want to use NOVA's name, as it resides alongside "Enola Gay" in most Japanese minds. Plus, if they don't use NOVA's name, they can more easily justify the 25% fee. Sadly, the above-mentioned woman doesn't understand why she has to pay the 25% charge doesn't get it; NOVA is gone along with her money, the new company doesn't really owe her any favors.

[dimwit]

Losing my job today would have exactly zero impact on my financial situation.

What? So you have that escort service up and running? Better not give Boothe your address or He'll be camped out on your doorstep for the next few months.

[Greji]

What? So you have that escort service up and running? Better not give Boothe your address or He'll be camped out on your doorstep for the next few months.

Whadda ya mean "He'll be..."? I didn't know he ain't got it up and running, I guess I might as well leave and go home....

[Mulboyne]

Yomiuri: Former Nova teachers struggling to get by

Jessica Crichton, 23, and Hilary Keyes, 24, former teachers of failed language school chain Nova Corp., sat on the floor of their shared apartment in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, eating bowls of instant ramen--their first and only meal of the day. "I can't tell my mom in Canada about this situation," Crichton said with tears in her eyes. After all, she came to Japan, she said, because she loves the country and its people. About 4,000 teachers lost their jobs after Osaka-based Nova filed for court protection from creditors under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law on Oct. 26. The two were told on Oct. 11. to leave the apartment the firm rented for them. They moved to their new place on Oct. 20. "Many former Nova teachers are being driven out of their apartments and are living in dire conditions," an official of the National Union of General Workers Tokyo South Chapter said.

Nova teachers usually lived together in groups of two or three in shared apartments rented by the firm. Osaka resident Nik Shepherd, who came to Japan a year and half ago, is one of them. He lived together with two colleagues. Monthly rent of 53,000 yen was withheld from the salary of each. Currently, although the firm has failed to pay the rent, the landlord has been kind enough to allow the tenants to stay in the apartment. "We've stopped eating out. We can cook at home for 200 yen per meal," 26-year-old Shepherd said. He lives on his meager earnings from private English lessons.

"I was disappointed with [former Nova President Nozomu] Sahashi, but I love Japan," Crichton said. She said she sometimes gets absorbed reading "Ugetsu Monogatari," an anthology of 18th century ghost stories that one of her students introduced her to. Shepherd said he was eager to learn more about Japanese culture, such as ukiyo-e woodblock art. Although the takeover of part of the Nova's operations by a Nagoya-based firm has been decided, the future still looks cloudy for the former Nova teachers.

===

Many Nova students expressed resentment Tuesday upon learning their tuition fees will not likely be returned after G.communication Group, a Nagoya-based language school chain operator, takes over some of the failed language school chain's branches. G.communication announced Tuesday it would not assume an obligation to return tuition fees paid by about 300,000 students to Nova. During a press conference Tuesday night, Nova's court-appointed administrators Toshiaki Higashibata and Noriaki Takahashi, who are lawyers, announced that G.communication was selected to take over part of Nova's operations.

"The decision [taken by G.communication] will highly protect employees and students. I had the impression that the company was very generous," Takahashi said. G.communication will resume operation of 30 Nova schools at an early date. As for operations at about 640 remaining schools, the administrators are in the process of selecting schools to reopen, but could not say when they would make an announcement on the matter. Meanwhile, G.communication President Takashi Ono said during the press conference that the school would accept all Nova employees who wish to work.

The company said it plans to do its best to support Nova students. Tuesday's announcement on the tuition fees had an impact on Nova's students. An 18-year-old college student who went to Nova's Kichijoji school in Musashino, Tokyo, said she paid 900,000 yen in advance to Nova about two years ago, and that about 200,000 yen remained unused for lessons. "I wonder whether I can take lessons or not if I pay additional tuition fees. I can't believe [what] an English language school [says] anymore," she said.

A 32-year-old female boutique employee said she attended the Meguro school in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, for 12 years. When she heard only 30 schools would be reopened for the time being, she hardened her face and said, "What will happen to the [Meguro] school? If the schools [to be resumed] are located far from my house, it will be hard to continue studying while working." A female company employee, 66, who attended the Ochanomizu school in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, said her advance payment of 315,000 yen for lessons remained unused.

[Iraira]

Maybe I'm crazy (c'mon say it), but I get the feeling that a lot of peeps feel that G-angsta Communications owes the ex-NOVA students freebie lessons.

[This is a pen]

FGL, my supervisor was also in the union.

Unions are for people who can basely do one job, For example a janitor, school teachers or an Airline pilot (Not necessarily the bottom rung).
The thing is.......They only know one thing, and so they need protection.

Those of us who are Jacks of all Trades, really have no need for unions.

If I ever lose my job I will just go find another one.

My personal opinion is that most unions suck, and really are no better than the government.

Once you start relying on others for your well being you are bound to get screwed.

[Iraira]

Those of us who are Jacks of all Traits, really have no need for unions.

Jack of all Trades

[Mulboyne]

Asahi: Nova fallout

With 4,000 Nova Corp. teachers out of work, now is probably the worst possible time to be seeking a job as an English instructor in Japan. The collapse of the Osaka-based chain of language schools means that hundreds of teachers now apply for every job opening, according to GaijinPot, a popular online job-site for foreign nationals in Japan. Longtime Nova employees accuse the company of operating under a system that made quitting the company an unpalatable option. They said Nova specialized in recruiting young, inexperienced university graduates with little or no practical Japanese-speaking ability. That left many of them ill-prepared to find new jobs outside of, and to an extent, within the teaching industry--hence the current fierce competition for teaching positions. Nova insiders say the company churned out teachers in much the same way that a fast-food chain produces hamburgers...more...

[Charles]

Jessica Crichton, 23, and Hilary Keyes, 24, former teachers of failed language school chain Nova Corp., sat on the floor of their shared apartment in Nerima Ward, Tokyo, eating bowls of instant ramen--their first and only meal of the day.

They both look like they could benefit from skipping a few meals.