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The Union Strikes Again
After filing a demand with the Labour Standard Inspection Office in Osaka at the end of September, the General Union and the Nova union submitted a written demand to the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry for them to take action regarding the delayed payment of teachers' and staff salaries and student refunds. Good. They are holding Nova's feet to the fire and ratcheting things up.
I was critical of the union's low profile before, but I was an idiot for forgetting about the press conference they held right from the get go after METI punished Nova. So, when somebody asks, you can tell them that they've been busy and flying under the radar the whole time.
Nippon TV has video of the meeting. The man in the thumbnail is identified as Louis Carlet, but I'm certain that it's Bob Tench. Louis Carlet is wearing a suit in the video.
I don't know how long this story will be available on JT before it disappears, so here it is in full.
Labor union asks gov't to secure employment of Nova teachers
Tuesday, October 9, 2007 at 13:13 EDT
The labor union assisting teachers at scandal-hit English-language school Nova Corp requested the government Tuesday to take action to secure the teachers' employment and prevent further damage to students.
Representatives of the General Union, whose members include foreign instructors working for language schools in Japan, visited the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to file their written demand directed at the minister, Akira Amari.
Nova, an industry leader, has faced decreasing student enrollment with many cancelling contracts since METI, which oversees the industry, ordered the school to suspend part of its operations in June for lying to consumers in advertisements about its services.
"Nova is now facing a serious crisis," Katsuji Yamahara, head of the multinational General Union, said at a news conference after meeting with ministry officials. "We asked METI for immediate action to save customers and teachers."
Many former students have not had their tuition fees refunded even after they left the school, Yamahara said. "Only Nova knows how many of such cases exist and how much money has not been returned. It could be huge."
Union officials also said the Osaka-based Nova had temporarily failed to pay wages to some of its teachers, mainly those of foreign nationalities. Wages for some of its Japanese staff have been put on hold as of Tuesday.
Some 4,000 foreign teachers are currently registered with Nova nationwide. The number has been declining from a high of 6,000 due to the company's numerous problems with employees, the union officials said.
Nova is said to be looking to close some 200 of its 900 school branches nationwide in an effort to revamp operations that have been battered by the scandal.
"It's not pleasant working for Nova right now," Bob Tench, a British teacher who has worked with Nova for 13 years, told reporters. "Every month we don't know if we are going to get paid or not. A company like Nova, a big employer, can be more professional in the way it does business," said Tench, a member of the labor union.
The General Union says the majority of its members are teachers and staff at conversation schools, public and private schools, and universities. It has declined to disclose the number of its members.
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Mr Bob Tench
Just read the article about the NOVA union. Is it true that Mr Bob Tench has been employed by NOVA for 13 years? This is not meant as a personal attack but Jesus Christ! What hope does any NOVA employee have of ever seeing their wages if the guy who is fighting the corner is someone who has been stuck in a dead end job for a third of his working life? Haven't you people heard of things called lawyers? They may be immoral, theiving, smarmy-faced scum, but if they are working for you, they can help. For those of you wanting to fight the NOVA management for your cash, I advise finding some good lawyers, or Samurai, if there are any left. It doesn't sound like Mr Tench's credentials are up to much. Sounds like he is still going to work, even now. lol
Shawn, in that article of
Shawn, in that article of yours asking 'where the union was', you quoted some seriously torqued union bashers. Made for an interesting headline, but when I saw it I just cringed.... I knew it wasn't accurate. I look forward to reading *your* considered views, observations, and insights. You can safely ditch reporting the opinions of others.
Mr Tench used to work in
Mr Tench used to work in shinjuku honko a couple of years ago. The amount of work he done seemed to be pretty minimal. In fact, he hardly ever seemed to be there and was just a part timer.
Video
Video is uploaded at Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P2xxk4C7lY
I will declare my stance I
I will declare my stance
I have been in a union for 5 years paying dues for 5 years.
By helping people in trouble I have been able to make my job more secure - by knowing the law.
It brings a wry smile to my face when people, who decided not to join the union, complain about the union not doing anything.
But it was good to see the correction above.
"work"
From what I hear, Bob Tench hasn't "worked" at Nova for 13 years at all, he's been on strike for the last god-knows-how-many years and goes into work about once every 2 months, if that.
Which means that he doesn't usually get paid by Nova at all anyway, so he doesn't know shit about the situtaion of teachers. Can't they find anyone better to represent 6000 (or is it 4000 now?) teachers??
What would RANDY DIXON do?
What would RANDY DIXON do?
The Union is always on the
The Union is always on the move, it's just that they don't call the camera crews every day...
New website for Interac/Maxceed workers by the way:
http://interac.generalunion.org
What a Joke!
I've worked at Nova for about ten years and tried to join the union twice. The first time I even filled out the paperwork to have dues transferred from my bank account. I was told they couldn't help me because I leved in too remote a location. The second time they actually cussed me out on the phone!
As slimey and disgusting as Nova is the union is just as bad. If you are giving your money to those guys you are just throwing away your money. They are using members money to buy fancy business cards so they can look big and help out their friends!
Go buy yourself a beer each month with your dues and you'll get a much better return on your investment!
Wow... Best advice in Japan
Thats right. Drown your sorrows people. They will all go away, take it from the guy that has worked ten years at NOVA. His problems have gotten better, right? Let's all commit ourselves to failures of poverty and get taken advantage of. Rah Rah Rah....
OK, bippity boo, a few things to think about:
I am not a credulous person, but I will grant your personal experiences the benefit of the doubt because every organization, no matter how big or small, will have its weak links if it is big enough, and it is very plausable that you may have run into that statistical misoppurtunty on two occasions. my experience with the Union in osaka leads me to lean towards the thought that your statement does seem like a simply case of some anti-union person spreading FUD out for some unbeknownst reason, but for the purpose of my reply i will accept it as actually having happend.
"I was told they couldn't help me because I leved in too remote a location. "
this is an unfortunate, real possiblility depending upon several factors.
1) being a member of a union doesnt mean you are automatically awarded miracles. it involves a lot of self-sacrifice, hard work and effort doing things like
a) making tones of phone calls (mostly in japanese when speaking to non-union members),
b) organizing people for protests, rallies and press conferences (extremly difficult when everyone - incluing union members - all have their own jobs and families to tend to)
c) keeping thousands of peoples information updated,
d) drafting letters to government agencies, mayors, city council members etc.,
e) folding and mailing thousands of leaflettes/newsletters a day (not every day but when it is done it is done in the thousands and it takes a lot of people a lot of hours),
f) going to collective bargaining agreements
g) keeping on top of all applicable japanese laws and being able to reference the law in japanese and english......
etc etc etc
if you live in a remote location it is very possible that it may have been not enough manpower to help you out at that time. it is unfortunate that the union cannot help out everyone everytime, but it does happen simply because being a union member is a goddamn hard (extra, full-time)job.
"The second time they actually cussed me out on the phone!"
where do/did you live? i know this wouldnt have happened in the osaka branch office. in tokyo, where the Union gives more power to its individual branches this would seem more likely if you happend to catch an actual idiot (ie the aforementioned weak link - the very reason there is an application process to join unions in the first place) in the(an) office.... if it happened recently, let me know ur actual name via email and i will place a complaint and try to get some answers. if this actually happned, it sounds like someone needs some training (providing that you didnt provoke it yourself out of frustration with your situation, etc)
"As slimey and disgusting as Nova is the union is just as bad. If you are giving your money to those guys you are just throwing away your money. They are using members money to buy fancy business cards so they can look big and help out their friends!"
this characterization is complete bullshit, as even a cursory glance at the aforementioned incomplete list of self-sacrificing tasks required of union members would lead someone to conclude.
NOVA union members that recently joined the union in osaka got paid recently, but ONLY because the heads of the General Union went with them, bringing NHK cameras in tow.
http://interac.generalunion.org/?p=14
Now maybe a good time to reapply to the union, especially with NOVA sinking faster thant a lead ballon at a sad birthday party.
good luck, i hope you are not one of the many NOVA teachers in financial jeapordy now.
Solidarity.
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