Itagaki Leaving Team Ninja, Suing Tecmo

[PARANOiA]

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080617/tecmo.htm

One, a translation? Apparently this is a lawsuit on behalf of all of Tecmo's employees, but I can't read Japanese.

Edit: from a gaffer:

The two top executives in charge of the labor union within Tecmo is suing a joint suit for unpaid wages. The suit was fighted in the Tokyo District Court yesterday, and claims that Tecmo has falsified documents and accounting procedures in regards to employment statuses, overtime pay and various lapses in employment standards when filing documents for labor inspections. The lawsuit represents the entire company's 300 employees' grievences as a whole, and there might be a 2nd or 3rd wave of lawsuits in regards to the overall employment issue.

 

[mister slim]

Yep, add that Cavia, Artoon and Feelplus at the time of the company's formation had been working on projects for Microsoft or the Xbox 360(Cavia doing Bullet Witch and currently doing Cry on) makes me more certain of this considering that at least 2 of the studios had heavy involvement with MGSJ.

Artoon also has a long history with MS. Blinx was one of the studio's first games and they also were chosen to do the development on Blue Dragon.

 

[Platon]

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20080617/tecmo.htm

One, a translation? Apparently this is a lawsuit on behalf of all of Tecmo's employees, but I can't read Japanese.

Edit: from a gaffer:

I wonder if Tecmo is on the brink of extinction or if it enough the restructure the company somehow. This feels very heavy to just blow over without any consequences...

 

[one]

The lawsuit represents the entire company's 300 employees' grievences as a whole, and there might be a 2nd or 3rd wave of lawsuits in regards to the overall employment issue.

That lawsuit does NOT represent 300 employees, technically speaking. The article says 2 board members of the labor union sued Tecmo, they suggest if it goes well other employees may join in, so "representing 300 employees" is not yet official.

After Itagaki's incident Tecmo is doing stock repurchase, so the stock price is going up. It's interesting to see how the new suit affects it.

 

[Platon]

That lawsuit does NOT represent 300 employees, technically speaking. The article says 2 board members of the labor union sued Tecmo, they suggest if it goes well other employees may join in, so "representing 300 employees" is not yet official.

After Itagaki's incident Tecmo is doing stock repurchase, so the stock price is going up. It's interesting to see how the new suit affects it.

that makes it a bit less "worrisome" i guess. The way I perceived it I thought that those 2 as union leaders were representing the union of all the workers there. Anyway, it has been a few sweaty days for Tecmo, lest see how it pans out...

 

[Dr. Nick]

And Tecmo throws a jab on Itagaki.with a provisional disposition order.

1. He is not allowed to take confidential information outisde of the company
2. He is not allowed to talk about the business of the company or criticize the business of the company,
3. He is not allowed to make inflammatory remarks which may hurt the company's business,
4. He is not allowed to talk about talk to the media regarding the company's business.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1215957_1124.html

 

[one]

And Tecmo throws a jab on Itagaki.with a provisional disposition order.

1. He is not allowed to take confidential information outisde of the company
2. He is not allowed to talk about the business of the company or criticize the business of the company,
3. He is not allowed to make inflammatory remarks which may hurt the company's business,
4. He is not allowed to talk about talk to the media regarding the company's business.

http://www.famitsu.com/game/news/1215957_1124.html

Your translation is a lot more liberal than what it actually is. Literally, the 2nd point prohibits Itagaki from

Making a false statement that suggests Tecmo resolved a certain business policy, and criticizing game software developed by other employees of Tecmo

Also, in a PR released today Tecmo officially denied 2 points in the 1up rumor article (30 developers to leave, Tecmo doesn't comply with a disclosure law)
http://www.tecmo.co.jp/company/pdf/2008061802.pdf
http://www.tecmo.co.jp/company/sc0401.htm

The stock price is 10% down from yesterday, so it's back to a point before stock repurchase.

 

[zarbaj]

sounds like a civil ninja war in there lol.

 

[RobertR1]

Hoping he and his clan find a good home, refresh their motivation and make another kick ass action game before this gen ends.

 

[zarbaj]

http://kotaku.com/5017831/hard-proof-that-tecmo-japan-is-lying-this-seems-like-it

hard evidence.

 

[obonicus]

http://kotaku.com/5017831/hard-proof-that-tecmo-japan-is-lying-this-seems-like-it

hard evidence.

Is it? It still sounds like a union complaints; it's not the '300 employees suing Tecmo' thing, and Kotaku (Brian Ashcraft particularly) is one of the worst offenders when it comes to writing alarmist, if not entirely false articles just to get more page-hits.

 

[dobwal]

Is it? It still sounds like a union complaints; it's not the '300 employees suing Tecmo' thing, and Kotaku (Brian Ashcraft particularly) is one of the worst offenders when it comes to writing alarmist, if not entirely false articles just to get more page-hits.

Doesn't matter if its all 300 employees, all it takes is one to win a law suit and set a precedent.

The lawsuit is based on widespread practices not practices isolated to just a few employees, so if Tecmo loses this lawsuit it will practically have to compensate all the employees affected with retro pay or face going to court and face another suit or suits overshadowed by the fact they have already been proven to be guilty of illegally withholding overtime pay.

 

[obonicus]

Doesn't matter if its all 300 employees, all it takes is one to win a law suit and set a precedent.

The lawsuit is based on widespread practices not practices isolated to just a few employees, so if Tecmo loses this lawsuit it will practically have to compensate all the employees affected with retro pay or face going to court and face another suit or suits overshadowed by the fact they have already been proven to be guilty of illegally withholding overtime pay.

My point is that they're union complaints. In my experiences with unions is that their complaints rarely match my own, as a member. Because a union says something it so doesn't make it so, and that stands for both the alleged illegal business practices as well as how many people they really stand for.

Now, don't get me wrong: Tecmo is likely to be lying just as much. I'm just saying we shouldn't take ANY of them on their word, least of all Kotaku's 'news'.

 

[zarbaj]

Is it? It still sounds like a union complaints; it's not the '300 employees suing Tecmo' thing, and Kotaku (Brian Ashcraft particularly) is one of the worst offenders when it comes to writing alarmist, if not entirely false articles just to get more page-hits.

honestly i don't know, i just like the drama.

...yeah i am really one sad bastard.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

My point is that they're union complaints. In my experiences with unions is that their complaints rarely match my own, as a member. Because a union says something it so doesn't make it so, and that stands for both the alleged illegal business practices as well as how many people they really stand for.

Now, don't get me wrong: Tecmo is likely to be lying just as much. I'm just saying we shouldn't take ANY of them on their word, least of all Kotaku's 'news'.

Seems very cut and dry to me if internal legal documents 'allowing' the flex scheduling had to be approved by an elected union official and Tecmo is readily acknowledging that the 'union official' that agreed to those terms wasn't elected and was, in fact, actually part of management staff.

The fact that they are blaming the discrepancy on the now-deceased President does nothing influence the legality of those agreements.

I'm more interested in knowing if the flex-time agreement is even legal under Japanese Labor Law, even if were properly agreed to as part of a bargaining process.

Here in the US, flex time schedules can be negotiated and agreed upon, but there are still limits that are imposed. The shear number of unpaid OT hours in question here make it almost impossible.

 

[dobwal]

My point is that they're union complaints. In my experiences with unions is that their complaints rarely match my own, as a member. Because a union says something it so doesn't make it so, and that stands for both the alleged illegal business practices as well as how many people they really stand for.

Now, don't get me wrong: Tecmo is likely to be lying just as much. I'm just saying we shouldn't take ANY of them on their word, least of all Kotaku's 'news'.

What point is that? Just because its a union complaint it has less legitimacy than an individual employee's complaint. If that was true every company would want to unionize their employees. Just because anyone says something doesn't make it so, whats you point?

The lawsuit revolves around union agreements so the lawsuit ultimately has the ability to affect every member of the union regardless if there is one plantiff or three hundred plantiffs taking part in the lawsuit. In Japan, unions can act as a "judicial person" in cases like lawsuit, so it becomes a moot point in terms of # of employees actually taking part.

 

[AzBat]

I think if the union agreements are proved to be made under false pretenses like we've heard, then whoa be unto Tecmo as they'll probably loose their shirt.

Tommy McClain

 

[LunchBox]

Never really liked the guy but it's not cool to get stiffed off of your pay.
And also, provisional disposition orders are quite common.