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Sharks at Goldman Sachs thought they were getting away with it, but workers strike back using Japanese labor law and union support. Japanese unions are different than their US counterparts (excepting the few strident Communist controlled ones), so in this case I might have to let the workers have a pass here.

Pretty much its really difficult to fire someone outright in Japan, so it requires the voluntary consent of the affected employee. Technically, as the article explains, a firm is not allowed to hire or pay large bonuses if they are also laying off personnel at the same time. A best effort is also required to offer them other jobs in the firm.

a) Company suffering, bleeding cash, in the red, horrific balance sheet; b) leading to layoffs within the ranks all the while the company is being run into the ground; and c) at the same time, the velvet carpet guys, the executive suite chaps, are all voting themselves massive bonuses or engineering lurcrative retreats from the firm, has ALWAYS atrucken me as extremely IMMORAL, and I am a capitalist at that. You take care of your PEOPLE first. If they do well, the company does well, you do well because of your exemplary leadership. If they do poor, the company is suffering because of either bad times or bad management, then you suffer rigth along with them. Perks gone, pay raises frozens and executive bonuses out the door.

I doubt that many US Wall Street type hard ball Ivy League boys in their loud, overbearing Wall Street voices, with their big feet up (in $400 shoes) on the local furniture could get away with the shit for very long over here in Japan. Glad somebody called them out on it. Shame on them. Ugly Americans (just like the book of the same title.). Many of these people have no morals nor conscience.

Japanese unions are different than their US counterparts (excepting the few strident Communist controlled ones), so in this case I might have to let the workers have a pass here.

I cannot remember where I read it (probably here on FR), but I seem to recall a story a few years back that showed Japanese union members on strike. They were all at work, doing the job that needed to be done, while wearing arm bands showing they were in "strike mode" to show solidarity. The logic being that, while they may be on strike, they also knew that the only way to improve things for all was to keep the company up and running.