Support For Nova Instructors

27 October 2007
The Australian and British embassies in Japan have set up pages on their websites to support their nationals working at Japan's largest foreign-language school chain Nova Corp, which filed for court protection from creditors Friday.


Noting there is a limit to the assistance they can give since the matter is a private-employment issue, the two embassies are providing a range of information on their pages, including a list of English-speaking lawyers, contacts for Japanese government offices and some explanation about Japan's unemployment benefits system.

According to the Australian Embassy's page, the country's Qantas airline has decided to offer for a limited period reduced airfares for Australian Nova employees wishing to return to Australia.

The British Embassy says on its page that the embassy can assist British Nova employees to contact their family or friends in Britain in the event that they were left with no funds.

According to Nova sources, some 7,000 employees, both foreign and Japanese, are listed on its payroll, with the number of the nationalities of foreign instructors topping 30.

A spokesman at the British Embassy said Saturday the embassy has received some 30 Nova-related inquiries, mostly from British instructors at the language school. They asked about visas, Japanese groups assisting them and the Japanese legal system, the spokesman said.

The General Union, a labor union representing foreign instructors working for Nova, submitted a written request Friday to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to take action to minimize the damage they will suffer.

The Australian homepage is at:
http://www.consular.australia.or.jp/nova_information.html
The British one is at:
http://www.uknow.or.jp/be_e/embassy_news/E000644.htm

ＮＯＶＡの外国人講師を支援

ＮＯＶＡで働く外国人講師は、ピークだったおととし３月の６１００人余りからは減っていますが、今もおよそ４０００人に上るということです。１つの企業による外国人の雇用­では、日本で最も規模が大きいとみられています。支援する労働組合や大使館などによりますと、国別で最も多いのはオーストラリア人のおよそ１０００人で、次いでイギリス人­の９００人、さらにアメリカ人、ニュージーランド人、カナダ人の順だということです。講師の中には、ＮＯＶＡが借り上げたアパートで生活する人もいますが、ＮＯＶＡが家賃­を滞納し立ち退きを迫られたり、賃金の不払によって帰国するチケットを買う余裕がない人もいるということです。また、日本に滞在するビザは外国人講師を続けることを条件に­得ているため、仕事を失うとビザが更新できなくなるという不安も抱えています。このためオーストラリア政府は、ホームページにＮＯＶＡの問題のコーナーを設け、日本の雇用­保険制度の情報や英語がたんのうな弁護士のリストなどを載せています。また、政府とカンタス航空が話し合って、ＮＯＶＡの講師がオーストラリアに帰国する際は、航空運賃を­割り引く制度を導入するとしています。一方、駐日イギリス大使館もホームページで「ＮＯＶＡの問題をしっかりと見守っている」としたうえで、イギリス人の講師に対して、相­談窓口や労働組合の情報を提供しています。

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Nova
• Japan
• embassy
• Australia
• England
• Britain
• repatriation
• support

[MelaMan]

NOVA has gone belly up with debts over $400 million! The guy in the video, one of the owners, has quit, the president is missing and 5000+ foreign teachers have not been paid for two months! Japanese staff have been underpaid or not paid since July!