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Back to Work for Neo-Nova?

Some potentially good news if you're a Nova instructor, but no word about receiving any backpay:

G.communication Co. said Monday it has decided to employ all 1,760 instructors and other staff at Nova Corp. who have applied to work at Nova schools the Nagoya-based firm will take over.

The company said it is ready to hire nearly 700 other Nova workers who have been interviewed by G.communication but have yet to decide on whether to apply.

[...]

Of the 1,760 Nova employees that G.communication has decided to take on, 1,548 are foreign teachers and 212 are Japanese staff.

I suppose this represents some from closure for Nova instructors--they can return to work--but they would essentially be going right back to work under the same Nova brand that landed them in their current predicament. It's not the best option, but getting back to work sure beats doing nothing or working for food.

Next up for students and teachers is getting their refunds and backpay from Nova. This could take some time as it looks like Nova really has zero assets:

The outstanding salary payments were Nova's responsibility, but examining Nova's finances, the trustees had found "there was not even enough money to run the company for one day."

Apparently, Nova had a small fund set aside, which will be used to cover a small proportion of the outstanding wages. The rest will need to be claimed from the government after Nova is declared officially bankrupt, likely in around two weeks, though the large number of claimants means the process may well take up to six months. Those leaving Japan were asked simply to leave their contact details, as they wouldn't be able to rely on assistance from the Japanese embassies in their home countries.

This shows what a rickety company Nova was, it's supposedly large size notwithstanding. Once its cash flow stopped, Nova quickly keeled over and died.

Edit

This is good news for teachers: ALTs in Kinokawa City in Wakayama have been re-hired directly by the BOE, but only for the remainder of this fiscal year (the end of March 2008. The ALT in the interview had just bought a new condominium and needs to pay the mortage, but isn't sure what the future holds for him.

Comments

What about the rent/housing?

Its all nice what the media and Gcomm is saying but until people are working and things are up and running I am not sure what to think.

the GU claims that one of the demands that Gcomm agreed to meet is to start paying the teachers next month

Well thats nice but no ones signed any contracts yet. Have they? So no ones working for newNOVA yet. Perhaps in a couple of days this may change. I understand that Gcomm got a lot of work to do and things take time. But people are still, waiting, waiting and waiting.

I think they planned on doing that anyway. Can you say someone is meeting a demand if you demand they do something that you plan to do already. If you demand that I eat dinner tonight, does my eating dinner mean that I am meeting your demand?

I want to go on record as saying that anyone who resigns with this new company will probably end up in an even worse situation than they are or were in with Nova.

Watching the video about Wakayama ALT's they showed a clip of protesters and there is an older lady with a sign that I believe says "let us teach" in Japanese (which I believe can also be translated as "make us teach"... ???). This old woman is a perfect example of why Nova failed and deserved to fail. She's lived in Japan for probably 15 years and worked for Nova the whole time. Although she wasn't in any position of authority (at least when I knew her) she followed company line and sacrificed any and all who didn't.

If workers want to blame Sahashi, please do, he deserves a lot... but, if you all go back to work and G-com decides to place people back into similar positions everything will repeat. Do the choices of this company seem any brighter then those of Sahashi. Offering jobs to 2500 people before anyone has seen a cent. Before one student has decided to come.

Please learn a lesson from this... if G-com lasts long enough for anyone to see pay, save it, and the next time your boss tells you to do up your top button and not talk too much in class (TTT) tell him to fuck off...

Gcomm may be good or bad, just not so sure yet. I haven't even seen a contract. In my case if Gcomm offers a good deal I'll take it and if they don't then I'll move on. I am keeping offers open but I am not just waiting for Gcomm.

The problem is that there are many job seekers but not enough jobs going around to give people much choices, sure early next year is a different story. If some people do end up working for Gcomm and it sucks I do think they will be in a good position then to move on quickly with some pay depending on when they start and other stuff.

Now isn't very wonderful for the unemployed.

I DEMAND you also have breakfast tomorrow morning!

we wont be resonsible for the consequences if you fail to meet this demand.

In the last few days of our branch (catchment of about 500,000)there just seemed to be people burning their tickets. The manager was advising the students to quit and many did. A large number of the remaining students asked for private lessons ,others are too angry to continue or seem to have lost faith in big language schools.. I am not sure if other branches were the same as this.I hope not!!! On the last day we had very few students left.If this was the trend in other branches, I am wondering if G-Comm are aware of the fact.

Are there any start dates projected if the new g-com contracts go though?

Any work about the MM center?

Thanks and keep up the updates!

I heard that some people would be called in regards to new nova today, but I'm not certain.

I like how you say "still no word about receiving any backpay" yet not only is there word, but you go on like 2 paragraphs later to detail exactly what it is. Just because it hasn't materialized doesn't mean no one knows what's going to happen with it.

Knock it off with the theatrics, everyone's going to read anything you write regardless.

Hi,

why has nobody uploaded the form they handed out at the meeting???

What keeps the small man small is his asocial behaviour!!!

A. Socialist

Here are the forms that were handed out at the meeting on Saturday.
If you are seeking employment with G Education, you should use these forms.

Notice of Resignation:
http://img26.picoodle.com/img/img26/5/11/12/f_resignationm_6a2e4d7.jpg

Request for Employment:
http://img26.picoodle.com/img/img26/5/11/12/f_requestforem_44e6010.jpg

If you just want to resign from NOVA and are not interested in being employed with G Education, use these forms on the NOVA website.

Here are the forms that were handed out at the meeting on Saturday.
If you are seeking employment with G Education, you should use these forms. I have no idea what you should do with them but maybe Foreign Personnel could advise you.

Notice of Resignation:
http://img26.picoodle.com/img/img26/5/11/12/f_resignationm_6a2e4d7.jpg

Request for Employment:
http://img26.picoodle.com/img/img26/5/11/12/f_requestforem_44e6010.jpg

If you just want to resign from NOVA and are not interested in being employed with G Education, use the forms on the NOVA website and fax to Foreign Personnel. The fax number in Osaka is 06-7688-0401.

Please notice that on saturday's meeting, ANY G-comm's member had word for non-english teacher until a trustee ask about.
Until now, NO call,NO letter, NO NOTHING for french/german/chinese language teacher.
THE FIRST LIE OF G COMM???

Eikaiwa means English conversation. The media also says, "Eikaiwa Kyoshi", English Conversation teachers.
OTHER LANGUAGES/NATIONALITIES DON'T COUNT! Bye-by~

Actually, somebody has posted the forms. This was posted yesterday. If you need it, here is the post.

For anyone in need, hopefully, this is a copy of the forms...

G_Education_Forms.pdf
(http://www.hotlinkfiles.com/files/606354_pqmob/G_Education_Forms.pdf)

Need to be mailed to:

G. Education
Mr. Sakamoto
462-0841
Aichi-ken
Nagoya-shi
Kita-ku
Kurokawa Hontori 5-12-3

i got a mail from Gcomm today..just like 10 seconds ago saying;

thank you for attending meeting blah blah blah..

we have confirmed your reply to our employment willingness survey.

regrettably, you did not wish for re-employment by our company, however if our paths cross again...

blah blah blah..

THATS NOT WHAT I SAID.

i asked for part time work...do these clowns not HAVE part timers?

No loyalty.

You got a letter canadajin. Sucks they wrote something generic that didn't refer to your interest in part-time work. Did anyone else get something? I haven't yet.

We're discussing that here if you'd like to look.

http://www.letsjapan.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=255214

where did u get this address from?
was this released by G.Comm???

I don't think anyone in Kansai was contacted today. Expect an email or phone call tomorrow or Friday I guess.

Hi,
Thank you very much!!!

That was, what I (and others) needed...

Together we are the strongest!!!

A. Socialist

First thing you did when you were at Nova. Walked in and looked at your schedule, then the other teachers'and then compared them."Not bad,easier day than Brian" You then noticed that the part-timer(who didn't get any pay over the winter break like you did,...fucksocks!!) had more bloody students than you had in your full day.
I was there covering for the full timers over the last two weeks before the ship went down. I even had a go at something called "overtime". I had the chance to teach in the Voice Room,with those low seats and those leggy women!!!. Where was the captain and the crew? Nowhere to be seen. A part-timer running the school!!! Unheard of!!! But did very nicely out of it, thank you. So if "Parties" are not accepted in the new set up, then the new guys don't know the difference from their arses and a hole in the ground. We is super drones,innit?

I am in Sapporo. They called and said next tuesday will be considered the first working day. I asked about signing a contract, what kind of schedule I would have, where I would be working ect. and they guy had no answers, he said tuesday would be an orientation day at EC for all the nova teachers. I said I would need more information before signing anything or commencing work. His reply - "of course we cant force you to sign the contract".

Not looking good

I got a call from G com today. But they just wanted to know if I was interested in teaching English in Taiwan... I told the guy I wasn't an English teacher but a French teacher. It didn't seem to disturb him. I refused so he asked me if I could pass on the message to anybody that might be interested.

If you are, call Yorimoto san (090 9808 2839)

PS: he knew nothing about MM center reopening.

hating nova now is like cursing hitler..whats the point?..the cvnt is dead.

actually for some reason, the part-timers always got a break at my school...the full-timers got a full-assed day, and the part-timers floated in, got a free right off-the-bat half the time..and a slack-off voice.

we never told the snake AT to share the frees out, cuz she would just steal it for herself, if she hadnt already done so.

sorry about the lack of info for the germans, chinese, french, italians, etc...i hope you guys are doing ok...

god it just came to me what a nightmare this all is...i hope everyone is keeping their head above water, and not getting too stressed...

i was a part timer.. less hours.. more pay per hour.. sundays off.. always had a voice, had time to work at another part time job.. still worked less hrs in a week than a 34 lesson instructor, made over 300g's a month... it was damn sweet!

No more "panty- peeping" for ¥300,000.

So... are they really going to pay people to sit at home and wait?

Hey, does anyone have any idea how long it takes to actually GET money from Hello Work, or any other agency, once you file for unemployment benefits?

So... are they really going to pay people to sit at home and wait? " WHO? Are you kidding?"
Ref; 13:56 : WE'LL CALL YOU AND LET YOU KNOW! YOU PANTY-PEEPERS!

Thanks for the forms, I have been hunting for them everywhere, however I heard a runour you were supposed to fax them somwhere, I see you have posted a postal address. do you know of a fax number?

Thanks for the help.

Don't know about a fax number, so just send it off to that address. I was given the same address from my former AAM after the fiasco..I mean meeting last week. Also I got an e-mail last night(WED) saying I could expect a phone call from G Comm today.

One more thing, don`t forget to write "Nova Documents" and your home branch on the envelope.

Oh whatever! You worked four hours a day and if you covered the full timers in the end that shows how stupid you are!

"Other languages don't count!" hahaha, pathetic shit you are!and you, how many languages do you speak? australian farmer's english???
You are a number, "eikaiwa kyOOshi" a poor little number...

Maybe somewhere is written but i was not be able to find, all i have read is interessing but maybe is only for english, what about other languages for example italian?
When they will open the multimedia and the italian course? They will put the italian in branch? They will keep the same schedule for all? Many questions but for now no answers!

Anyone know something?

This site is; ENGLISH, ONLY.
You can type in your own native tongue, but....it's probably like talking to a wall.
(To be able to work for us, you have to be able to talk to "student posters" in ENGLISH.
You will only get replies from your "own-kind", here, if not none at all!
Must be difficult to find a job with a language/tongue of little value. Ha Ha Ha!

Dream to become a pokemon master.

Do you fit our High-Standards in teaching English?
Click on our site: EC Eikaiwa G Communication
http://www.letsjapan.org/?q=horror_in_hokkaido.html

Has anyone out there been contacted by G Ed today? I just heard some rumours about AAM meetings, problems still with landlords etc..something tells me this is going to be a very slow, drawn out process and that initial number of teachers who applied for work with these guys is going to start dwindling from this weekend.

I'm in Osaka and still haven't heard anything. Though, I had a missed call yesterday morning from 'withheld'. It might have been them...? But no message.

Sorry if the only one too dumb to figure this out:

I'm currently filling out the forms to apply for G-string re-employment - not sure what to put next to "Affilition"...........School/Section.

Any help appreciated.

Couldn't leave message on answering machine. Sort of like talking to a wall.
We only have teachers in training doing that. (Talk to student posters on the wall!)
You know the rules. "Don't contact us, we'll contact you!" We pick only the "BEST!"
EC Eikaiwa G Communication

Write down; "THE DEVIL"

"HELL"

They said that by Wednesday 14 November they would call all teachers in order to arrange an interview. No one has been called so far. G-comm have already missed their first deadline and their first chance to show employees that they are different from the old NOVA. We are seeing again the old lack of communication, lack of information and consideration. They held a public meeting where they spoke to hundreds of people already frustrated by this never-ending situation and they promised many things, but nothing is happening and people are just left in the dark once again. Same old story again.

"Sorry if the only one too dumb to figure this out:
I'm currently filling out the forms to apply for G-string re-employment - not sure what to put next to "Affilition"...........School/Section.
Any help appreciated."

I wrote the number of the branch I worked at. The number should be in any of your payslips.

I just wrote the name of the branch I worked at. Many people at the meeting that were around me did the same thing.

7734
Input it in a calculator with digital numerals, and read it upside down!

I saw alot of fatties at the information seminar maybe they can enter the sumo tourneyments.

Austrailia the fastest country on earth is giving us gaijins a bad image. Americans, Canadians, and the English aren`t helping either. I don`t want Japanese people to think of an obese or overweight person when they think of gaijin.

There is a Japanese notice on G-Com's website which says they are still choosing schools to reopen, and once more, all people involved - students and potential teachers - shibaraku o machi kudasai, or "please wait a little longer". Hai hai...

LINK

http://www.g-com.jp/pdf/20071114.pdf

Thanks for pointing out that I am "an idiot".I'll have to remember that.
Very observant of you.Thank you.
But I really wanted to stay until the last day. I could have the best seat in the teachers room, drink in the classroom, smoke in the kids room, look cocky in the office and answer the phone like an AT, use the womens'toilet (not forgetting to write my email address on the wall and put the seat back down) and use the PC.(to get all the students telephone numbers and email addresses)I went back today just on the off chance that my beloved Nova had opened again, but alas nobody answered my cries.
Skeptical? The claw marks are there, plain to see on the closed shutters.

of course.

id rather be fat than a shitheel...

I once taught a class with a large piece of dog turd on the bottom of my shoe.The shock when I found out I was the culprit!!! I just tried to be nonachalant trying to put my foot out of the door. I left some on the floor it seems .The next teacher in the room (by chance an overweight Australian lady)never forgave me.
So I guess I am a shitheel.

Partimer Did the Obese Austrailian lady`s name start with an "A." If so I think I know who you are talking about.

check aneki.com. Fattest people are in the UK!

List of schools opening. In Japanese. http://www.g-com.jp/1106nova/index.html

17.10 comment right on the ball. This company with the same old Nova management is looking similarly inept. Nova`s secrecy over the last 2 months have cost us all valuable time and money.

Here it is, if not straight from the horse's mouth, then about as close as we can come to it right now:

School openings:
Which schools and where will open are not known now, but teachers will be getting calls to come in to their (probably newly designated) branches next week to sign new contracts. A change of location is likely.

Pay and conditions:
This was not promised to me, but both individuals I spoke to told me that all indications are that pay and conditions will not change, and that this includes those teachers who are enrolled in Shakai Hoken.
I'd heard a rumor of getting paid 80% of what was paid under the "old" Nova, but when I mentioned this to the lady at foreign personnel she said they had heard nothing about that and that it seems to be a confusion with the 80% rate of back pay that can be received from the government (she was very friendly and helpful, unlike another person I'd spoken to there a couple of weeks back. I think a lot of this depends on the individual you are dealing with).

Changing your shift:
If you have a new full time job, but want to stay part time with Nova, for example: It may be difficult to arrange that, and as has been noted on this site they seem keen to get full time schedules going. But when you get called it can't hurt to ask.

Overtime:
Overtime may be scarce for awhile considering the # of teachers who want to come back, but there seems nothing to stop an eventual return to a "normal" overtime availability situation.

I hope this information is of some help.

in detention! (room 101) after school, without the students showing up.

Better to be realistic,folks.
270 Nova schools in Tokyo,89 in Kanagawa,55 in Chiba, 47 in Saitama, 26 in Ibaragi,Gunma and Tochigi. That must mean there is quite a bit of competition out there for those rather small schools they plan to open.
With students that are actually left paying under 1000yen a lesson (25% of the fee)one can't help but wonder.AAM's and AT's to the fore???

Just in case anyone was as stupid as me to actually count them

You mean there won't be enough people on hand to staff the schools, or that there'll be too many people and not enough positions for them? According to news reports about 1750 teachers are being rehired. G.Ed says they want to open up 200 schools eventually, which means an average of 9 teachers per school Japan-wide. Not undoable, I'd say, but am I perhaps misinterpreting your comment? If so, sorry.

In any case, It seems to me that they are going to adjust the number of newly-opened schools in accordance with the number of requests for employment they received at the meetings. That's what I'd do.

It seems the process has started . I got a phone call from FP Osaka/RAMM asking me to confirm my request for employment with "new" NOVA .We should be contacted early next week to go into new branch and sign contract . When I asked about pay I was told that pay starts from the time we sign new contract . The time before signing the new contract one is deemed to be still employed by "old" NOVA so will be included in the claim for back wages and paid at 80% eventually.At the meeting last Saturday I was under the impression that I resigned from "old" NOVA that day (I signed resignation form ), I'm a bit confused . Has anyone else been contacted today? or have any more information.

got a call today asking if i could start on monday. of course i said yes because i am an AT, novatron, company whore.

saw that ugly potato head anders..why is that ghoul here and not in jail eating mice and gruel in some dank dungeon of a gaol?

or, conversely, why is he not in said gaol, being sodomised by an gay ex-sumo, who has had one too many turns rinsing the buttocks of his superiors at the stable, and ate an entire Louis Vuitton staff member in a kind of revenge on his mother?

you never saw a more ugly hoard of bottom feeders in your sorry excuse for a life as you will at that office,..the minions of hell itself, situated directly under the luxurious digs of the Head Chimps toilet....

Flush twice, you have an entire staff of evil to slop.

and maybe I dont FEEL like answering the fucking question What is 5 plus fucking 6!

i dont want to work for this scabby company...or these wretched half-dead, anesthetized droids.

wow..i am just crazy..and all that

Unerstand your sentiments CanadaJin ,
"i dont want to work for this scabby company "
I feel like a bit of a whore myself .Thing is there are not too many other options right now .I'm just gonna lie back and think of England while I take it up the arse again

My reaction to "the call" this evening...

http://jp.youtube.com/watch?v=YGNWvI5q6Fo

I got a call yesterday, went in today. We signed some paperwork, did a teleconference with the company 'president' (I think?) in Sapporo. It didn't seem too painful, although we didn't get a proper contract, we did sign some new papers (different from the ones at the information meetings) about our desire to be re-employed.

I'd still like an official contract, but the way we were treated and the way things went so far, it didn't feel like a total scam. Sure we're probably still working for a scabby company, and it's a pity that Anders isn't in jail, but would you rather I live out of a cardboard box near the station? I'll take a crap job over no job any day, thank you very much.

Sh@t, I inadvertently met your demand. Wow, you union guys are good.

Nova's new price plan is up on G-Com's website, also accessible from Nova's website. Expensive for Man to Man lessons, 4 times as much as normal lessons:

http://www.g-com.jp/1106nova/pdf/071116_nova.pdf

I agree that now isn't the best time to look for a job. The ones that I could find all start in April. Also as many of us know it will be "hopefully" easier to find something early next year.

But as some people have mentioned don't let Gcomm be your only choice. Do what you must but keep looking.

I actually think the 25% off is quite fair to students. I mean the company doesn't have to do shit for the students! No other company was willing to offer anything even close. 75% is pretty good. I don't know how many students will go for it but on the plus side those who don't are probably the sort you don't want to teach anyway.
The 1 monthly thing though should stop people from canceling contracts though, people can last a month if they don't like it.
But then I don't have a business mind so what do I know (and what did monkey bridge know? lol)

Sat, 11/17/2007 - 11:50 — yasashiieigo (not verified)

Hello all,

wanted to update you on the response we are receiving from students at www.yasashiieigo.com.

After doing some extensive word spreading in Japanese language online communities we are now receiving over 2,000 hit a day from students looking for teachers. One of the reasons for this is that students are voluntarily adding the link to yasashiieigo.com to their own blogs and other communities.

We now have an abundance of pre-registered students looking for teachers. So if you're interested in having your old NOVA students find you for private lessons, online or offline, or you are looking for students to increase your income, come and visit, see what we're doing and pre-register yourself.

Many students are emailing us to track down their teacher and if you're not on our list we can't do much for either of you. We encourage you to pre-register.

To all of the teachers that have already pre-registered thank you for your support.

Gavin.

Why are people allowed to put up ads to their websites on here? Shouldn't you be charging them for it or something, Shawn?? Or just deleting it?

maybe I am just a little numb between the ears...

but why is G-Com changing the name of their Nagoya branch (and others I suppose) to NOVA if it is most probable that at sometime NOVA will declare bankruptcy?

for the Pigeon-English students.
Pigeon pie anyone? Bunch of suckers ready to be roasted! MONEY!

Don't be such a whiney pussy!!!
You the type of little bitch who gives NOVA teachers a bad name.

At the meeting the new boss of NOVA said he would hire back every body even if it means that some of us would stay at home. The trustee said it was one of the reason he selected G com as a sponsor. But now they are hiring only people they need for their progressive reopening. Leaving the others without pay, precise schedule, unable to take any engagement (baito) because we don't know when we are restarting and again, without any information also they fired Sahashi on this point !

Actually, i just have a question, i got this sheet from the welfare department. It stated apparently that the first requirement to be eligible to receive the 80% of unpaid wages is that you have to have been working full time giving contributions for over a year. i worked for a year on a working holiday visa (doing 37 lesson as regular overtime) before becoming an A34 in august. The comment on the sheet seemed fairly unambiguous and i am shocked. surely there are many teachers who did not work for over year. i always thought i would get some money at the end. In fact i worked right until the final day when others were not turning up cos i didn't want to let down the j-staff and students who continues to come in. Am i actually not going to receive anything? I'm gutted. Can anyone give me advice? Please say it isn't so!

but i think you will get some cash..cuz its over a number of months that you worked...i suggest contacting the union, which (despite what some folks will tell you) has been pretty helpful in answering these questions..

not perfect mind, but not bad, at least in osaka.

dont panic...

I have been trying to get back with "Nova", for lack of being able to hired elsewhere on full time. I was not aware of the meeting that was held on the 10th until the day after and so I called the Nova office on the monday and they said they had nothing to share. I have finally got a hold of the rehirement papers but is it too late to send them in?

Not sure if it's too late or not but the company did promise to hire all teachers who wanted their job back. Please mail the forms to:

G. Education
Mr. Sakamoto
462-0841
Aichi-ken
Nagoya-shi
Kita-ku
Kurokawa Hontori 5-12-3

Don't be be such a gullible sucker next time! Why in the world did you continue working for a crappy, bankrupt company that could not even pay you? Do you actually think the Japanese staff and students have any loyalty to you?

Write this off as a learning experience. You were taken. I cannot feel too sorry for you because you were so totally foolish.

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