Regarding the Sept. 25 article in the Community section "Advice for teachers": The statement that "The General Union and Nambu decided on a policy that we won't take new members if Nova goes bankrupt" is not an accurate reflection of the General Union's policy. The General Union has no special policy regarding Nova teachers' joining our union regardless of whether Nova falls into bankruptcy. We will accept all applications from Nova teachers and staff for membership in the regular manner.
We have scheduled an information session Sunday (Sept. 30) at 8:15 p.m. in our Osaka office for Nova teachers who would like more information. We will encourage those who attend to join. However, teachers and staff must understand that we will not be able to offer the level of support regarding, for example, unemployment insurance procedures, social and health insurance, visas and apartments as we have during past bankruptcies. The reason is simply that we cannot do this for so many people all at once and continue to take care of our non-Nova members.
I hope Nova teachers and staff who are considering joining the union will take the above into consideration and still join up. Keep in mind that if everyone who joined expected instant service on an urgent problem, our union would not be here at this moment offering whatever help we can.
We hope that Nova teachers who remain in Japan will join our union and help us reform the language industry, especially so that the current problems do not recur at other workplaces.
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