Coup de force a Japan Air Lines (JAL)

Depuis deja quelques mois, le feu couvait et le principal actionnaire faisait ouvertement du petard dans la presse: ce milliardaire, bien que proprietaire a lui tout seul de pres de 5% des actions de la compagnie aerienne, etait tenu a l'ecart des decisions prises par la societe.

Et pour cause ! La gestion de JAL laisse visiblement a desirer, et ce relachement manifeste s'est meme traduit ces quatre ou cinq dernieres annees, par divers menus scandales internes, mais aussi par d'inquietants rapports sur l'insecurite des vols de la compagnie.

Les actionnaires n'en finissent donc pas de faire grise-mine au fur et a mesure que s'etalent dans les pages des journaux, les deboires de leur compagnie. Mauvaise humeur chez les actionnaires, certes, mais aussi et de plus en plus, a la sous-direction et chez le personnel naviguant ou au sol. Une grogne qui est allee crescendo jusqu'a ces derniers jours ou quatre directeurs du conseil de direction de JALI (Japan Airlines International) ont finalement publie une petition reccueillant au passage la signature d'une cinquantaine de sous-directeurs, de 200 chefs de section et de la majortie des pilotes de la compagnie, reclamant purement et simplement la demission du patron et de plusieurs directeurs de JAL-maison-mere.

Et voila que ces japonais que l'on croit trop souvent moutonniers, nous jouent les Revoltes du Bounty...

En tout cas, si tout cela a eveille votre interet, voyez donc ce qu'en dit la presse japonaise a travers un article des quotidiens nationaux japonais ASAHI SHIMBUN; YOMIURI SHIMBUN et MAINICHI SHIMBUN.




Calls intensify for JAL chief to resign

An in-house drive to topple Japan Airlines Corp. (JAL) group President Toshiyuki Shinmachi and two top executives is gaining momentum, with more than half the airline's directors indicating they want the trio to step down, sources said over the weekend.

According to the sources, 10 of the 19 full-time directors of the JAL holding company and its two major subsidiaries, Japan Airlines International Co. and Japan Airlines Domestic Co., have signed a document asking the three to resign.

The trio are being urged to take responsibility for JAL's poor business performance and sluggish reforms.

The sources added that calls for the resignations of Shinmachi, Vice President Katsuo Haneda and Senior Managing Director Hidekazu Nishizuka are also spreading down the ranks from higher-ranked employees in managerial positions.

Four of the 10 directors, said the sources, confronted Shinmachi during a meeting Feb. 10 and demanded the three step down.

The four were Makoto Fukada, Kiyoshi Kishida, Hiroyasu Omura and Tetsuo Takahashi. All are directors of Japan Airlines International Co., which operates the airline's international flight services.

They handed Shinmachi a petition signed by about 50 employees in positions of authority asking for the trio's departure, the sources said.

In addition, the four directors also submitted a similar document signed by 10 directors, six of whom sit on the JAL International board. The other four are directors of JAL Domestic.

Two of the signees, however, later withdrew their names.

According to the sources, Shinmachi immediately rejected the request.

Despite the airline's ongoing internal woes, he has vowed to stay put until the end of March next year.

But that, say the sources, could prove difficult, considering the recent outpouring of opposition.






JAL power struggle intensifies

In a new manifestation of internal strife at Japan Airlines Corp. group, 10 senior executives from JAL's domestic and international subsidiaries have signed a petition urging JAL Chief Executive Officer Toshiyuki Shinmachi to step down.

One of the directors demanding Shinmachi resign because of the carrier's poor performance made the disclosure on Saturday on condition of anonymity.

It was also learned that more than 200 JAL managerial-level staff, mostly pilots, have added their signatures to the petition. It demanded that Shinmachi, along with Executive Vice President Katsuo Haneda and Senior Managing Director Hidekazu Nishizuka, leave their posts. The three are the firm's legal representatives.

The infighting flared up on Feb. 10 when four anti-Shinmachi senior executives in JAL's international operation unit, JAL International Co. (JALI), including Managing Director Makoto Fukada, sought Shinmachi's resignation.

The list of petition signatures includes Fukada and the three other rebel JALI executives, according to the anti-Shinmachi director.

In addition to these four, the petition included signatures from four senior executives of the company's domestic arm, Japan Airlines Domestic Co. (JALJ) and two others.

However, none of the 10 executives of Japan Airlines Corp., the holding company that has both JALI and JALJ under its umbrella, signed the document.

The four JALI and four JALJ executives who signed the petition do not account for a majority of their firms' boards. This means there is no immediate possibility of Shinmachi, who heads the holding company as well as the international and domestic units, being forced to resign.

Given that 10 out of a total of 19 senior executives of Japan Airlines Corp. and its two major subsidiaries have demanded the resignation of Shinmachi and his two close allies, backed by more than 200 JAL managers--up from about 50 in early February--the JAL infighting will likely intensify, the director said.

Meanwhile, other JAL sources said Shinmachi met with Fukada and the three other JALI executives for a second time on Saturday, following a meeting on Feb. 10.

The four executives demanded Shinmachi make way for Kiyoshi Kishida, JALI managing director, but Shinmachi immediately refused, according to the director.






JAL president set to dismiss 4 board members over attempted 'coup'

Japan Airlines (JAL) President Toshiyuki Shinmachi has suggested that he is set to dismiss four board members over internal strife.

The four board members, who urged Shinmachi and two other top executives to resign, are being held responsible for losses over the airline's international flights.

"It is an urgent task for board members and employees to get united and overcome the difficulties we are encountering," Shinmachi said. "Before holding the president responsible for the difficulties, the board should feel a sense of responsibility for the deficit suffered by the divisions they are in charge of."

JAL will announce the reshuffle of its board simultaneously with the mid-term management plan it will work out by early March, and seek approval of the dismissal at a shareholder meeting to be held later this year.

The four board members at JAL International, responsible for operations, airports, sales and personnel management, met with Shinmachi on Feb. 10 and demanded that he step down along with two other top executives.

At the time, they showed him a petition signed by 10 board members of firms in the JAL group, including themselves, and 200 employees in managerial positions.

Et voila, c'est fait ! Apres s'etre defendu comme un diable, et avoir rejete la faute des troubles internes de JAL sur ceux qui avaient demande qu'il prenne la responsabilite du tres mauvais etat de l'ancienne compagnie nationale japonaise - demandant d'ailleurs le renvoi des "mutins" - c'est donc bien lui, NIHSHIMATSU HARUKA, president de JAPAN-AIRLINES (maison-mere) qui devra rendre son tablier.

Apres l'affaire NHK qui s'etait solde par le licenciement de son president M. Ebisawa, c'est donc au tour de cette compagnie de faire le menage non pas par le bas comme c'est trop souvent le cas en France, mais par le haut, la ou les mauvaises decisions font perdre leur argent aux investisseurs, et par lesquelles les familles sont jetees au chomage.

Comme quoi, on nous vante souvent les merites du syndicalisme interprofessionnel sur le syndicalisme-maison, mais je crois que ces merites-la tiennent plus du fantasme et de l'ideologie que de la realite... avec comme avantage evident lors du regime des syndicats-maison, de ne pas ennuyer les clients et les usagers en cas de conflit et/ou de greve.


En savoir plus grace au quotidien national japonais MAINICHI SHIMBUN


JAL President Shinmachi to resign over internal strife

The president of the holding company of the Japan Airlines (JAL) group, Toshiyuki Shinmachi, is poised to step down to settle internal strife that began after four executives demanded he and two other top executives resign to take responsibility for the company's poor performance, company officials said.

Shinmachi, 63, is to be replaced by Haruka Nishimatsu, 58, a board member of Japan Airlines Corp., following a shareholder meeting at the end of June.

Vice President Katsuo Haneda and Senior Managing Director Hidekazu Nishizuka, who had been urged by the four executives to step down, will also leave their positions, while the company will apparently demand that at least one of the four rebel executives resign.

Shinmachi had initially intended to propose that both of the two top executives and the rebels should be punished to take responsibility for the internal strife while he remained as president for now.

However, his plan drew sharp protests from within the company, forcing Shinmachi to decide to step down at an early date to settle the dispute, sources at the firm said.

Nishimatsu joined JAL after graduating from the University of Tokyo's economics department. He became a board member in June 2005.