The Fat Lady is Out, the Greek Chorus is In!

Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

I’ve noticed that on a lot of online forums and message boards people criticize teachers who have not quit Nova, but that can be a tough call to make. Sure they’re not paying paying teachers so in that respect it behooves everyone to get another job. BUT if you voluntarily terminate your contract with Nova you are not eligible for unemployment benefits - even if the company’s situation indirectly drives you to unemployment because it’s a more secure position; at least you can spend your time looking for a job rather than wasting time in one that no longer pays. News reports and blog posts talk about how Nova must pay its staff, creditors/students and teachers. Somehow former teachers don’t seem to figure into this. Why we’re not considered creditors (they owe us for labor, according to the contract) or employees (again, they owe us according to the contract) I don’t know. Even when students cancel the contract they’re supposed to get the money that they are owed, so how come when teachers resign we don’t get the same rights and consideration? That seems like an unfair penalty for just trying to make a secure living. In American law you can ‘plead the 5th’ - that is, to engage in self-preservation by refusing to provide information that could incriminate you. It seems as though teachers will now be penalized for engaging in self-preservation, for refusing to work for a company that will not pay them.

In light of that I don’t find it so remarkable that some teachers are choosing not to quit.
Nova Update
Oh Nova. There is yet another development in the Nova story… there will continue to be developments until they finally file for bankruptcy and just end the suspense. Until then…

Teachers received another fax on Friday (oct 12) saying that paychecks would not come on the 15th (Monday) but would be delayed until the following Friday (Oct 19). Before this fax however, plans for a walkout were already being arranged through another wordpress blog, http://novawalkout.wordpress.com/. The walkout was scheduled in the case of non-payment by 3pm Monday. I can only assume it still happened; the last posted comment is at 1:36pm and by now its about 8pm there.

Just in case there was some glitch or slip-up I checked my Japanese account and sure enough nothing had been deposited. And just for the record, the union is planning “legal action to demand wage payment.”
Additionally, news about Nova in the Japanese press is increasingly being reported in crime section of various newspapers. Most recently, someone posted this information, from Yahoo Japan, at letsjapan.org:

“This guy named Nishida has been arrested for stock manipulation,and there are now strong suspicions that he has been involved “in an attempt to raise funds for a different JASDAQ-listed company this month.” (Any guesses as to what the name of that company might be?) This unnamed company “has been hit by scandal this year and seen its business suffer, with its share price at one point falling to just 15% of its 2007 high. The company has announced a massive injection of capital to take place this month in an opaque deal using two companies registered in the Virgin Islands.”

Also, “Prior to his arrest on the 11th, Nishida was scheduled to meet with the president of the company in Tokyo.”

Oh, and Nishida is reportedly involved with crime syndicates.”

That information exactly mirrors the details of Nova, although of course, without confirmation everything is more or less just speculation.

*a note about the title: I’m more or less referring to an earlier post at LetsJapan.org, “The Fat Lady Hums a Few Bars.” What/who is the Fat Lady? I’m thinking an official declaration of bankruptcy. The Greek Chorus is all the bloggers who provide the information that doesn’t come from Nova or the mainstream media. Maybe the Fat Lady is singing somewhere, softly; but the Greek Chorus is certainly drowning her out.