Posts Tagged ‘nova japan’

Nova Files For Court Protection From Creditors

Nova, the largest operator of English conversation schools in Japan, has filed for court protection from creditors:

Nova Corp. filed the request with the Osaka District Court on Friday morning under Japan’s Corporate Rehabilitation Law, court spokesman Takeaki Tominaga said.

Following the court filing, the Jasdaq Securities Exchange for start-ups and venture companies suspended trading in Nova shares for the day and said the company will be delisted Oct. 27.

“This matter affects not only the students but foreign teachers and staff. I hope that the impact can be minimized,” top government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura told reporters.

The Osaka-based foreign language conversation school chain has debts estimated at 43.9 billion yen (US$385 million; €269 million), according to Kyodo News agency.

A video of Japanese news coverage of this event:

Nova schools across Japan have closed their doors, and it is not clear when or if they will re-open in the future. Nova’s official website has been taken down and replaced with a notice in Japanese that announces the bankruptcy and includes a Q&A telling students that they cannot get refunds now because all Nova’s assets are now under protection of the courts. Teacher and staff wages have also been delayed indefinitely.

[The picture used in this post is from Let Japan's Nova Artwork thread: check it out if you need a laugh!]

Coverage of the Nova Teacher Protest

A fresh video of the Union-organized protest march by Nova Teachers (from ATV):

The Japan Times also has an article up about the issue:

The General Union, which represents foreign-language teachers and other staff at Nova Corp., said Monday it will lodge a complaint with the labor authorities against the company for delaying wage payments.

The union said it will initiate formal proceedings with the Osaka Central Labor Standards Inspection Office on Tuesday morning either in the name of the union or Nova employees.

Update: Here’s a TV report on the Osaka protest march (for TBS in the Kinki Region):

Update 2: FTV also reported on the demonstration:

And Mainichi has an article up about it:

The Nova teachers’ branch of the National Union of General Workers Nambu also joined with other unions from western Japan to ask Labor Standards Supervision Offices in Tokyo and Osaka to pursue a criminal case against NOVA and its president, Nozomu Sahashi.

The unions accuse Sahashi and NOVA of breaking the Labor Standards Law.

NOVA union officials pointed out that the chain has failed to pay some of its English conversation teachers since July and that payment of September’s monthly wages for all its teachers were late. Teachers were supposed to be paid on Monday, but the company did not forward entitled wages, instead sending a letter to instructors saying that it would pay them by Oct. 19.

And there’s another article at Mainichi with the clever title “Oh NOVA! More English students sue chain.”