Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Novastorm '07 Continues...

Now it looks as though the teachers' unions are getting into the act, calling for the indictment of Nova president Sahashi Nozomu. There's one line in this story that's telling:

Nova has also failed to pay wages on time to about 2,000 Japanese employees over the past three months.

It's bad enough that Nova's delaying payments to its teachers, but once again they show their willingness to really stick it to the Japanese staff. I guess I'm assuming these 2,000 Japanese employees are largely the overworked, underpaid, mostly female branch employees who come early (before the teachers) and stay late (after the teachers) every single day.

Definitely bad times for Nova teachers, staff and students. Because I have friends who are still teachers and students there, I hope Nova can pull out of this but as the situation intensifies, it's looking less likely.

On the other hand, let me tell you how lucky I feel to be working in a student-oriented setting with a family-style atmosphere. I'm as content with my own situation as I can remember being for a long time.

So much so that I recently agreed to sign up for another year, starting next March. That means I'll have those travel opportunities I was hoping for. Hong Kong and Vietnam, here I come! Also, I'll get to enjoy one more Hamamatsu Matsuri (my health was such that I couldn't really indulge in the fun last spring), another sakura season, and at least one more horrifically humid Japanese summer.

No comments: