Gaba declares war on General Union?

[gaijinstanley]

According to a post on gaijinpot, Gaba has sued the General Union for 58 million yen. This is major news and its surprsing there isnt more info avaliable about it on the net (nothing on the unions website either). Why did they sue? There seems to be several theories doing the rounds. Does anyone know more details?

[allblacks]

According to a post on gaijinpot, Gaba has sued the General Union for 58 million yen. This is major news and its surprsing there isnt more info avaliable about it on the net (nothing on the unions website either). Why did they sue? There seems to be several theories doing the rounds. Does anyone know more details?

Which post? Please provide a link. Thanks. ABs

[Lamarr]

I don't think they've actually won that money yet, they're taking the Central Labor Commission to court over it. I think the Labor Board ruled that they should be referring to teachers as "employees" rather than "contractors" in the work contract. Gaba are trying to get that overturned because it means they'll have to fork out for holiday pay, health insurance and the rest.

More info and links on this thread

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=257354

[novawhiz]

only thing I found was here: (cached link from GaijinPot)
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:rkltrnpEaR4J:forum.gaijinpot.com/showthread.php%3F97815-Making-a-living-at-Gaba+Gaba+has+sued+the+General+Union+for+58+million+yen&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com

GABA is also suing the General Union for 58 million yen for saying not very nice things about GABA and defamation.

I don't remember ever having seen this before.....maybe they filed suit against the union a long time ago....or the poster got confused and is thinking of Berlitz where the company was suing the union for obstruction of business activity...?

ALSO.....GP seems to have pulled that cached thread....wow THAT never happens.

[Lamarr]

Most of the information on it seems to be contained in these two articles, from the Japan Times and General Union:

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ ... 019zg.html

http://gaba.generalunion.org/news/806

[Wage Slave]

only thing I found was here: (cached link from GaijinPot)

GABA is also suing the General Union for 58 million yen for saying not very nice things about GABA and defamation.

I don't remember ever having seen this before.....maybe they filed suit against the union a long time ago....or the poster got confused and is thinking of Berlitz where the company was suing the union for obstruction of business activity...?

In the case of this particular poster that is very possible. If this is the only evidence, then I don't think there is anything in this story at all.

[Lamarr]

According to that General Union article, Gaba is suing the Central Labor Commission, an "extra agency" under the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Nowhere is there anything to suggest that Gaba is suing the Union.

[inflames]

It's been up on the union's Japanese page for some time (I remember seeing it in March)

http://gaba.generalunion.org/news/802

[Wage Slave]

Well done. Senseiman may be along in a bit with an informed opinion but I doubt whether this would be a smart move for GABA. The downside is that you find yourself in a public forum answering all kinds of questions and revealing all kinds of information you'd rather not. Then you have to prove that you have in fact suffered any financial damage worth speaking of which can be difficult. Perhaps though the rules on punitive damages here are much harsher than I am used to.

Have a look at this case for a classic example of how it all went wrong for a big company even though they (sort of) won: McLibel Case

[jon]

I remember Suruhashi complaining that if the METI ruling stood they would go broke. Soon after that they did. I can't help wondering if Gaba would lose viability if they had to follow normal employment requirements. If so, this suit would make sense as a stalling tactic to keep the show on the road for as long as possible.

[gaijinstanley]

So, Gaba has sued the union for 58 million yen in damages for something the union wrote on their website accusing Gaba of writing a dishonest report to the Securities and Exchange Surveillance Commission. That's about all I can work out. I don't think the newspapers reported on this, and the union doesn't give any more info. Does anyone know (union members out there?) more about this? What did the union accuse Gaba of exactly?

[Ziggy]

Sounds to me like GABA is in panic mode.

[gaijinstanley]

It could be
1. panic, or it could be
2. cold hard calculation. The union has won at the Labor Commission. Gaba has sued to overturn the Labor Commission ruling, but think they can not win, so to set things up for a settlement, counter-sues the union. A settlement would see all cases withdrawn. OR,
3. Gaba is seriously aiming to rid Japan of a small but irritating union which threatens its business model.

Whichever it is, it is effective harassment against a small union, entailing legal fees, possible appeals dragging on for years IN TOKYO, adding pressure for the union to settle as in scenario 2. above. I hate to admit it's a clever move when you're in a corner. I'm surprised more companies haven't tried it. Gaba may be in a panic, but the union can't be relishing the prospect of years of litigation.

[Gizmo]

There's a new link up on the union page about it: http://gaba.generalunion.org/