A labor union representing teachers from scandal-plagued NOVA Corp. went on strike Tuesday demanding the English conversation school chain pay unpaid wages and agree to collective negotiations.

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.

Some NOVA teachers are living in accommodation the chain arranged for them and normally deducts rent from their wages and pays it on their behalf. However, while the deductions have continued, there have been many instances where NOVA did not pay rent as it was supposed to and landlords are trying to evict teachers, union officials said.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071016p2a00m0na051000c.html

A labor union representing teachers at scandal-hit English-language school operator Nova Corp. submitted a petition Tuesday to the Osaka labor standards authority, asking it to seek an indictment of the company and its president Nozomu Sahashi on charges of a breach of labor standards laws.

The General Union [Tokyo Nambu's sister union] asked the Osaka Central Labor Standards Supervision Office, an arm of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, to have public prosecutors build a criminal case against the company and Sahashi over a delay in payment of wages to its foreign instructors.

According to the union, wage payments for Nova’s some 4,000 foreign instructors are usually made in the middle of the month. But they were delayed in September, and the company has notified the instructors that payments for October will also be delayed until Friday.

In late September, the union filed a request with labor authorities asking that Osaka-based Nova be ordered to pay the wages. The authorities have since recommended on a number of occasions that the company improve its practices related to labor standards.

Article 24 of the Labor Standards Law stipulates that companies must pay wages to employees at least once a month, on a fixed date.

Nova, an industry leader, has been hit with decreasing student enrollment and numerous canceled contracts since the government ordered the school in June to suspend part of its operations for lying to consumers in advertisements about its services.

The resulting financial plight apparently is making it increasingly difficult for the company to meet its workers’ wage claims.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2007/10/16/3017057.htm

Three more former students of the beleaguered English conversation school NOVA have sued it over repayment of funds for cancelled contracts.

The group of three filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court demanding that the Osaka-based conversation school chain repay a total of 1.46 million yen because of unfair accounting practices when returning money when contracts are cancelled.

The lawsuit is the second wave of legal action against NOVA backed by a group of Tokyo lawyers working pro bono to help students of the conversation school who feel they have been mistreated.

The three plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed Monday are all company employees who live in Tokyo.

In June, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry slapped a six-month ban on NOVA making long-term contracts because of the chain’s mishandling of the cancellation of contracts.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071016p2a00m0na025000c.html