The Union News, Vol. 2, No. 4; Consecutive No. 14,  6 February 2001

The Union News, an English newsletter of the Hokuriku University Union,is published from time to time as need arises in the (anonymous) editors'judgment.

Next Collective Bargaining
Set for Wednesday
After several attempts, the Union has managed to have the management agree to another collective bargaining session. The meeting--the first one after the lawsuit by Prof. Yoshihiko Hatsugai against both chairman Yoshiro Kitamoto and the university--will take place on Wednesday, February 7 at the conference room adjacent to the library on the Pharmaceutical
Sciences campus. It is slated to start at 6 p.m.
In its proposal the Union demanded that the agenda include the so-called Hatsugai issue, the document dated on January 29 in the name of executive managing director Koichi Nakagawa, and revising salary for fiscal 2000, in that order. The first item is technically called "explanation by chairman Kitamoto himself about the alleged incident on September 14, 2000, in which he is said to have tried to force
Mr. Yoshihiko Hatsugai, former dean at the Faculty of Law, to quit, using a Japanese sword." The second item refers to the management's attempted justification for locking Hatsugai-sensei out.
In its response the management opted for a single item: the pay negotiations. But who could prevent a member from raising the sword-and-the-professor issue?
The Union's stand regarding the Nakagawa document is fully stated in the (Japanese version of) Kumiai
News, No. 167 (January 30). The management dared to misinterpret the January 16 Kanazawa District Court order, insisting that its decision "clearly" allows          the management to refuse an opportunity of the professor's teaching.
The court order mentioned nothing like this.  The important phrasein the court paper is MAINTAINING THE STATUS AS A PROFESSOR. In other words, a judge judged that Hatsugai-sensei should be allowed to carry out both research and teaching as a professor,  of course using his office.

Goodwill: Donations for Hatsugai-san
On January 30 the Union launched its campaign to seek donations for Prof. Yoshihiko Hatsugai to help finance his legal battles with both chairman Yoshiro Kitamoto as an individual and the board he heads.
In just a week, half a dozen people responded, one professor donating 100,000 yen.
Union members are being urged to follow suit,  regardless of amount. Goodwill counts more than the yen figure.