A record-high 3.21 million people worked at least one temporary job in fiscal 2006, an increase of 26.1 percent–another record high–from the previous fiscal year, according to a Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry report.

The annual turnover of temporary agencies was about 5.42 trillion yen–an increase of 34.3 percent from fiscal 2005, the report said.

However, the 30 percent to 40 percent margins being creamed off by these agencies has come under attack from temporary worker labor unions and other groups. Under the Temporary Staffing Services Law, owners of temporary staffing agencies must report once a year to the ministry on matters such as the number of temps they dispatch and the dispatch fees they receive. A total of 41,966 businesses made such reports to the ministry in fiscal 2006.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/20071230TDY02308.htm

AUSTRALIANS are among hundreds of foreign teachers who had been hoping for fresh jobs to start the new year but remain unemployed after a firm taking over part of the collapsed Nova language school chain stopped hiring.

Nova, whose schools were once ubiquitous across Japanese cities, filed for bankruptcy protection in October, leaving thousands of foreign teachers without income.

Nagoya-based G.communication was selected by Nova’s rehabilitation administrators to take over the running of some schools and had hired 1647 foreign teachers by today.

But the company said it was also rejecting applications of some 600 foreign instructors from Nova.

G.communication plans to open only 126 of the 600 schools originally operated by Nova throughout the nation, the company said.

The diversified corporation already runs English schools in northern Japan along with other businesses such as restaurant chains.

“Other companies in the group also have needs for workers,” the statement said.

The company acknowledged that most of the 600 rejected teachers had hoped to start working from January.

The firm had given them �150,000 ($1508) each in financial support for the holiday season, with many of the teachers taking trips home.

Nova had an estimated 400,000 students and 6000 employees on its books, 4500 of them foreigners – many of them young people looking to spend a few years in Japan.

Embassies of English-speaking nations had started helplines for former Nova teachers, some of whom had declared they were ready to offer language lessons in exchange for food.

Foreigners with few skills other than speaking their native languages were able to make a comfortable living teaching in Japan at the height of the 1980s economic boom, but the jobs have since become less lucrative.

Nova was founded in 1981 and became the leader in the industry. It filed for protection from creditors four months after the government ordered it to halt part of its operations over insufficient refunds for students.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22975092-31037,00.html

National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu, a Tokyo-based labor union whose ranks include many ex-Nova teachers, also decried G.education’s sudden announcement.

“It was all very sudden. It was a big shock to people,” said Catherine Campbell, who is currently in charge of the Nova case at the union. “They don’t know what they are going to do.”

According to Campbell, teachers were notified of G.education’s decision last Friday via e-mail.

She criticized G.education for breaking its promise and for the timing of its bad news, coming when many job aspirants had returned to their homes overseas for Christmas.

They had hoped to come back to Japan and work, but now that the jobs they were expecting are unlikely to materialize, they may find themselves unable to pay the rent for their apartments full of their belongings, she said.

Yujiro Hiraga, president of National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu, said the union will seek collective bargaining because G.education has not provided a clear explanation for its decision.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20071226a1.html

G.communications has gone back on its promise to hire all former NOVA teachers who apply, announcing on Christmas Eve that 600 applicants would not be rehired.

Reasons given for the decision include difficulties in reopening schools, and the company’s plans to relocate the Ochanomaryugaku (interactive TV lessons) operation overseas in order to cut costs.

This is an abrupt change from the company which assured union representatives just a week earlier that all applicants would be hired. NOVA teachers who went home for the holidays, expecting to return to work in January, are now reeling from this second betrayal.

NUGW Tokyo Nambu and the General Union will be demanding collective bargaining with G.communications later this week.

Up to 800 foreign language teachers formerly employed by NOVA Corp. will not be hired by the failed English conversation school chain’s new owners.

Officials at Nagoya-based G.communication Group said they are looking into finding employment for around 200 ex-NOVA teachers with affiliate companies, leaving the remaining 600 or so unemployed.

G.communication Group bought out NOVA after it filed for protection from creditors on Oct. 26, leaving the failed conversation chain to go through bankruptcy proceedings exactly one month after its collapse.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20071225p2a00m0na009000c.html