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Omeo
Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 245
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 Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 11:20 am Post subject: Who's making sure the Nova teachers get paid? |
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| I apologize if this has already been asked, but I was wondering what I and my fellow Nova refugees need to do to make sure we do eventually get paid if someone buys Nova. Is there a class-action lawsuit? Is there a union representative? I realize we're not gonna see that money overnight; I know we'll likely have to wait months before we see anything, but we DO wanna make sure they haven't forgotten about us or that they're not hoping we'll forget about them. Do we need to do ANYthing? Is it just a matter of time before they get around to paying us? Just trying to find out what, if anything, we need to do. |
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stillnosheep
Joined: 01 Mar 2004
Posts: 2068
Location: eslcafe
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| Posted: Sat Nov 03, 2007 9:33 pm Post subject: |
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Nobody (in their right mind) is going to buy Nova. The debts are too high. The assets too few. Your best hope is that the decision to grant the request of what is left of the Nova board for what-is-left-of-Nova's temporary protection from bankruptcy is revoked asap so that the liquidators can begin to meet their legal obligation to share out whatever assets Nova have left. Once that process starts staff owed salaries will stand at the front of a very, very, very, very, very, very, very long queue
Keep your wage slips. Register with Hello Work. Make yourself known at the Local Standards Office. Keep in touch with the relevant union (the General Union if you live in the Kansai area). Pray.
And don't get sucked into any talk of a resue deal. It's all just a front to allow the other directors time to extract as much cash as they can out of Nova before it goes belly up again leaving even less for its creditors. |
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yamanote senbei
Joined: 28 Jun 2005
Posts: 435
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| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 2:14 am Post subject: |
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No one's going to be paid for some time, maybe in six months if everything goes smoothly. Your best bet is to join whatever union is closest to where you are in Japan and hope that they will let you join.
The writing has been on the wall for years now, although some frequent posters on ESL Cafe have chosen to ignore the signs.
http://www.generalunion.org
http://nambufwc.org |
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ironopolis
Joined: 01 Apr 2004
Posts: 379
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| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 10:13 am Post subject: |
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| yamanote senbei wrote: |
No one's going to be paid for some time,
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What? Even the union members?  |
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Chris21
Joined: 30 Apr 2006
Posts: 366
Location: Japan
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| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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Gotta' agree with Stillnosheep... Nova is toast. The debts are immense and I can't imagine any company would want to take that on. For any ex-Nova teachers out there hoping for a payout, it's better to forget about it and move on.
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Nova boss grilled, may face charges
OSAKA (Kyodo) The Osaka Central Labor Standards Supervision Office said Friday it questioned ex-Nova Corp. President Nozomu Sahashi this week on suspicion of breaking the law by failing to pay its employees.
It was meanwhile revealed that Nova would have liabilities in excess of assets totaling nearly �100 billion if the foreign-language school chain is liquidated, because the actual value of its assets is only about a 10th of book value, sources said. |
100 Billion yen... amazing. |
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Omeo
Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 245
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| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 1:55 pm Post subject: No one? |
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So, no one's gonna buy Nova, huh? What about this?:
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071101p2a00m0na014000c.html
I'm currently staying with a Japanese couple I'm friends with while I'm in the process of getting a job in Korea. My Japanese friends have pointed out articles in the local paper about Nova. There was an article today saying there are 12 companies that're all interested in buying Nova. I've heard the same thing from another Japanese guy who owns another language school. I think it's at least possible that someone will buy them out. What I wanna know is, when will we get paid and what do we need to do to make sure that happens? |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
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| Posted: Sun Nov 04, 2007 9:53 pm Post subject: Re: No one? |
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| Omeo wrote: |
| I think it's at least possible that someone will buy them out. What I wanna know is, when will we get paid and what do we need to do to make sure that happens? |
Someone may well buy parts of NOVA, but that doesn't mean they'll take on the debt. The assests will be worth more seperately than they are as a whole and few people would be willing to buy the debts as part of any package. Would you, as a prospective purchaser, agree to take on the debts?
As for being paid, the company is bust and owes a huge amount of money: there's no reason to think you'll ever be paid. Salaries come high on the list of payments for the liquidators, but they're right after taxes and from what I've read so far most of th debt is tax related.
Why haven't the NOVA drones all signed up for unemployment? |
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Hoser
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 694
Location: Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 1:52 am Post subject: Re: No one? |
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[quote="G Cthulhu"]
| Omeo wrote: |
Why haven't the NOVA drones all signed up for unemployment? |
Because people who are technically still employed aren't eligible for unemployment insurance. We don't become technically unemployed until Nova declares bankruptcy which they haven't actually done yet. |
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Hoser
Joined: 19 Mar 2005
Posts: 694
Location: Toronto, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 4:03 am Post subject: |
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Posted on the Nova website:
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To All Instructors and Staff Members
We explained on October 26th that we would determine the prospects by today (November 5th) regarding whether an appropriate sponsor could be found, and that if this was found to be viable we would proceed to select a sponsor, otherwise there would be no choice but to start bankruptcy proceedings.
Since that time we have been approached by around 10 companies, and we have started considering the details and screening these companies. We would like to determine the sponsor by Thursday this week (November 8th) at the latest, and we would like to prioritize the protection of as many as students as possible, and ensure the job security of as many as staff members and instructors as possible.
As we will proceed in this way, we ask that you wait at home until November 8th. We plan to hold another explanatory session when the stage of a definite announcement is reached, which we will notify you of later.
Interim Trustees:
Toshiaki Higashibata
Noriaki Takahashi
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Omeo
Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 245
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| Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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| I thought if you bought the company, you were responsible for the debt. How can you just buy part of the company and not be responsible for the debt? |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
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| Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:21 am Post subject: |
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| Omeo wrote: |
| I thought if you bought the company, you were responsible for the debt. How can you just buy part of the company and not be responsible for the debt? |
Happens all the time in most countries. Maybe Japan is different (hardly an expert on Japanese company law!), but I can't think of anywhere off the top of my head where you're *required* to purchase the debt.
If the company is in liquidation then the liquidators will sell whatever they can in the best combinations they can come up with. Someone may want to buy the whole thing as a going concern, debts included (and if the price were near nil it might be worthwhile taking on the debt), but if not then the liquidators can break it up - sell the leases, physical property owned, real estate, technology rights and systems, blahblahblah. Hell, in most countries you can even sell the debt itself seperately, and in cetain instances that's actually worth buying. |
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G Cthulhu
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 1373
Location: Way, way off course.
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| Posted: Tue Nov 06, 2007 12:25 am Post subject: Re: No one? |
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[quote="Hoser"]
| G Cthulhu wrote: |
| Omeo wrote: |
Why haven't the NOVA drones all signed up for unemployment? |
Because people who are technically still employed aren't eligible for unemployment insurance. We don't become technically unemployed until Nova declares bankruptcy which they haven't actually done yet. |
Ah, yes, they've only filed for protection so far, haven't they? My mistake. |
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Omeo
Joined: 08 Feb 2005
Posts: 245
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| Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:10 pm Post subject: |
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Okay, now they've got their sponsor and I found this article saying we should be getting 80% of our pay from the government:
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071103f1.html
If this is correct, what, if anything, do we have to do to claim that money? Do we need to go see the employment assistance people? I personally resigned as of the day before the schools all shut down. Is it enough that I told them to deposit my last paycheck into my account or do I have to go after it somehow? |
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southofreality
Joined: 12 Feb 2007
Posts: 579
Location: Tokyo
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| Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 3:54 pm Post subject: |
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From the article linked to in the above post:
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Will it be difficult to get a job at another language school if I can't speak Japanese?
According to the employment assistance center, this may be the case. Most Nova teachers have a one-year work visa for a Specialist in Humanities/International Services.
Most jobs available in this category, including English-teaching jobs, require a certain level of Japanese skill, some qualifications or other special skills, the center said.
The Shinjuku job office thus generally recommends that Nova teachers who cannot speak Japanese consider returning to their home countries for the moment because their visas could expire before they can find a new job in Japan. |
translation: 外人がちゃんとビザを持ってるのに、仕事もないし、お金もないし、ということは嫌です。 |
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partialtone
Joined: 09 May 2007
Posts: 137
Location: CA
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| Posted: Thu Nov 08, 2007 4:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Haha, what kind of "recommendation," is that? If your visa expires with no one to sponsor a new one then you HAVE to leave. |
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