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RedRoof · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Posts: 30 Location: Australia

Article from: Courier Mail (Brisbane-Australia) 01/10/07

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,22508420-3102,00.html

Aussie teachers not paid, left homeless in Japan
Josh Robertson
October 01, 2007 12:00am
THOUSANDS of Australians in Japan face the prospect of no jobs and no accommodation amid growing fears the country's largest English conversation school is on the brink of collapse.

Nova, the bulk of whose 5000-strong foreign workforce is Australian, might go bankrupt as early as November, Tokyo-based business consultant Ken Worsley said.
The company's Australian head office, in Brisbane, has stopped recruiting and warned those already offered positions against going to Japan.

"We strongly suggest all applicants delay their departure until the situation in Japan becomes clearer," Nova Brisbane spokesman Simon Thomas said.

Nova, already reeling from a $US45 million ($50 million) loss between April and June, is experiencing a disastrous cash-flow situation, with a flood of students cancelling lesson packages and demanding refunds.

The company's public image in Japan was shattered in June when it was slapped with a government penalty for false advertising.

Late salary payments and lack of communication from top Nova management have rankled its mostly foreign staff.

A 31-year-old Brisbane woman who works in Nova middle management in Osaka said teachers and students had no confidence in the company.

"Basically, middle management is not being provided with any information as to why we're being paid late," she said.

She said 300 eviction notices had been served to teachers living in Nova-sponsored apartments, with the company deducting rents from their salaries but not passing them on to landlords.

Despite the company's woes, Nova's Osaka office this week approved eight Sydney instructors for positions in Japan.

However, Mr Thomas said about 30 prospective recruits from Australia and New Zealand had been warned against accepting positions.

"We did have some people who arrived in Japan last month and they were all told we thought it was in their best interests not to go, and if they were to go they should take extra funds and be prepared for the worst," he said.

"There are still some people, who, despite our very strong warnings, have still decided to go as scheduled in October."

Louis Carlet, of Japan's National Union of General Workers, said Nova employees faced a six-month wait to recover lost wages if the company went bankrupt.

Nova's teacher salaries, which range from about $33,000 a year, are paid monthly in retrospect.

Australian-based staff are among those yet to be paid this month's salary.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said the effect of Nova's financial difficulties on Australians was "a private legal matter for the parties involved.

However, consular officials could help those affected contact relatives, friends and lawyers in Japan, he said.

Nova claims a 46 per cent share of Japan's lucrative English conversation school market but has posted multi-million dollar losses for the last three years.

Sorry to be telling you this.
Red Roof

kendoman1 · Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 69

Hoser · Joined: 19 Mar 2005 Posts: 694 Location: Toronto, Canada

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Mr. Kalgukshi · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 3:38 am Post subject:

If the ad hominem postings continue, the thread will not. Address the message and not the messenger.

TokyoLiz · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1548 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Tokyoites have likely seen this in Metropolis Magazine, but perhaps Nova employees further a field have not.

September 28

Fight For Your Rights
Local unions are helping foreign workers make their voices heard. But can non-Japanese ever really get a fair shake?

Eparama Tuibenau

For many foreign workers in Japan, joining a labor union is hardly a priority. But just as Nova language school�the country's largest employer of foreigners �has taken heat recently for illegal dealings with customers, its ongoing row with unions has been gaining scrutiny. For some, the issue calls into question the very viability of unions; for others, it confirms the need.

>Snip<
http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyo/recent/feature.asp

The article goes on to mention what few gains unions have made, and the difficulties of organizing foreign labour in this country, from the language barriers to the transient nature of foreign employees in Japan.

TokyoLiz · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1548 Location: Tokyo, Japan

This is on Yahoo Japan today -

ＮＯＶＡが講師給与から天引きの家賃を滞納
10月1日21時12分配信産経新聞

日本人社員や講師らの給与遅配が続いている英会話大手、ＮＯＶＡで、同社が大阪市内などで借り上げたアパートに住む複数の外国人講師十数人が、家賃の滞納を理由に家主からの退去を求められていることが１日、わかった。借り上げ住宅に住む講師らの家賃は給料から天引きされているが、ＮＯＶＡから家主への支払いが滞っているとみられる。ＮＯＶＡ側は「個別の案件についてはコメントできない」としているが、今後、家主が同社の経営を不安視して退去をもとめるケースが相次ぐ可能性がある。

(My own translation follows. Sorry, I'm not entirely fluent in Japanese.)

Nova defaults on rent deducted from instructor allowances
October 1st

Nova employees whose rental payments were deducted from their salaries were served eviction notices October 1st in Osaka. Although the rent was apparently deducted from the workers' wages, Nova has failed to pay for the accommodation. Nova refused comment. The rental agency, due to insecurity dealing with Nova, may see more cases of the same sort.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20071001-00000944-san-soci

flyer · Joined: 16 May 2003 Posts: 539 Location: Sapporo Japan

kendoman1 · Joined: 14 Jul 2005 Posts: 69

Miyazaki · Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 635 Location: My Father's Yacht

TokyoLiz · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Posts: 1548 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Over at Let's Japan, there is a full translation of the article I posted and translated -

http://www.letsjapan.org/?q=sankei-news-nova-fails-to-pay-rent-after-deducting-it-from-instructor-salaries.html

I'm pulling on this thread so that Novaites and non-Novaites alike can see what kind of coverage this story is getting.

Meanwhile, some Nova employees are actively blogging the situation at their work locations. See this blog -

http://www.memoirs-of-a-gaijin.blogspot.com/

Miyazaki · Joined: 12 Jul 2005 Posts: 635 Location: My Father's Yacht

That blog is an interesting read.

Area Managers and Trainers walking off the job; that's pretty serious because these are folks who tend to be "career' NOVA people. That, to me, would be a serious clue that things are bad no matter what the staff are telling him and his coworkers!

Ha! NOVA renting an apartment for Y60,000 a month for 3 teachers and then charging each teacher Y60,000, or Y180,000, is typical of NOVA.

I'm suprised many of these teachers are still showing up for work. I sure as heck wouldn't be knowing that there is a strong chance I wouldn't be getting paid!

Apparantly, some people who received offers before recruiting was completely stopped are still coming over to Japan to teach for NOVA - in light of the company possibly going under! Shocked