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Some thoughts about working at the MLI
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holbrook



Joined: 14 Jun 2003
Posts: 60

PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 8:32 am    Post subject: Some thoughts about working at the MLI Reply with quote

Working at the MLI can be a positive or negative experience depending on the kind of person you are. On the one hand the pay and benefits are OK. They don’t give you as much as some of the other Universities but then again, it’s much more than you’d make in many other countries. The pay differences are only marginal for people without children anyway. If you have kids the difference in educational stipends add up to a few months salary.

The biggest downside to working for the military is that your working for the military. There is so much ridiculous paperwork involved and hassles to go through to get the benefits stipulated in you contract. For example it takes about 6 weeks to bring your family over (sometimes more). At other schools you can bring them over with you. Also, taking one of your sick days means coming into work on-time and going through about two hours of hassle (including walking across the base in 120/45 degree heat to get permission from the doctor and then back to the school to submit the papers to the administration) Fun when you have pneumonia or something. You’ll also never be exactly certain if and when you can take vacation and take your plain ticket. Getting the purchase order for your annual leave tickets is a life altering experience. Usually the tickets come through just in time (like two or three hours before you leave). Also fun when you have small children and lots of plan to make including non-refundable hotel reservations. You get free medical care at the military hospital (as long as you don’t need anything complicated or difficult). Many things such as dental work take months to get finished. It took me 5 hours the other day just to get my child it’s vaccination shot! If you want to buy a car or have a phone hooked up in your house it takes a lot of time because you have to apply for permission letters from GHQ which could take up to 2 weeks to get (and they will only issue one letter per employee per month, so don’t try to buy a car, get a drivers license, open a bank account and install your phone or cable TV all in the first month). That’s not going to be too much of a problem anyway as you don’t receive you first check for about 6 weeks anyway.

If you think that those little hassles are tolerable than you are right. They are annoying but you can work around them and still have a good time here. There are two things that everyone should know if they want to come here. This way you won’t get angry about being deceived. The first one is about plane tickets. They say you get ANNUAL round trip plane tickets. This is true if you keep signing additional contracts. However if you plan only to stay for two years then you only get one vacation ticket. Your other round trip ticket was used getting you here and sending you home. They consider that a round trip! Every other school that I’ve ever heard of give you one vacation ticket each year and your original arrival ticket and departure ticket. The second thing is annual leave days. They say that you get 45 days of annual leave but be warned. This includes the weekends! Many of us came here thinking 45 days = 9 weeks. WRONG! 45 days equal six weeks. Also you can’t take them as and when you want. Your supposed to take them in three week block or longer and can’t take any during your last 3 months of contract. Worse still, when you leave with days left over you get payment at only 25%. So image you leave with 20 unused days they will pay you for 5. 5 days is not a week or a quarter of a months salary as you might expect. 5 days is 5/31st of a month. It really angers many people especially since you can’t get a plane ticket your last year, so most people don’t use many of those days.

However, there are some positive aspect to working at the MLI. One, the job is very easy. Two the hours are shorter than other places. Three the contract, including housing and furniture (which used to be pathetic), have just been improved. The Emirati administration is very laid back and friendly. The only problem is that they can’t always be as helpful as they would like because of bureaucratic problems and constraints. The students and Information Technology at the school aren’t the best in the Emirates but they are adequate and steadily improving.

There has been a change in administration here recently and no one knows for sure how that’s going to effect things. The old American consultants that ran the school have left. It was rumored that a certain (very unpopular) person was going to take the reins but thankfully that appears not to be the case. However, no decisions have been announced as of yet. If he manages to regain position and elevate his standing here than this will not be a pleasant place to work. He is not supported or respected by the vast majority of teachers. He is arrogant, unfriendly, and other times down right rude. He never says hello to the teachers and although a Westerner himself (*******/Canadian) he seems to be very anti-western in his worldview. Ordinarily this is fine. Anyone can feel or think as they please. It’s a free world. However this does effect his job performance as he is the sole teacher performance evaluator. Many of us here feel that he lets these personal feeling interfere with his supposedly professional judgment of who is a good teacher and therefore should pass probation or be renewed and who is not. He also seems to have it out for certain personality types (anyone who would disagree with him or his world view). You just have to wait and see for yourself.

In the end, to be know what your getting into can go a long way to accepting and appreciating the situation your in. If I had know some of these things when I first came here, perhaps I wouldn’t have had such sour feeling from the beginning. On a day to day basis the job is OK. However, little things add up. As the idiom says “the straw that broke the camel’s back”. There are a lot of straws. How many you can take is up to you.

Holbrook
June 18, 2003
Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sat Jun 21, 2003 4:07 pm    Post subject: tickets and vacation days Reply with quote

It is good to have a second voice heard from in reference to MLI. Many, if not most of the things that are negative about your job seem to be typical in the Middle East. (and overseas work in general - especially as relates to working attached to foreign governments)

I have worked for 5 different universities/colleges in 4 different countries in the Gulf and the first months were invariably a paper chase of epic proportions with phones, driving licenses, internet hookups, car buying, etc always hinging on something that your employer was holding up because of a required paper which they would blame on the visa department etc etc etc. (The happy exception is that Oman can often be very efficient and shock your system if you have lived in Kuwait, KSA, or the Emirates where things are often not smooth) Two to three months to get that first pay is not unusual and I have known people who got caught up in paperwork errors who took as many as six in all these places.

As to the ticket situation, I have never been given a full ticket at the end of my contracts. It has always been starting with a one-way, a return when I was coming back to teach, and a one-way the summer I was leaving. I have found this to be the standard. So, MLI is certainly not doing anything unusual here.

The same with vacation day counts. Every place that I have taught always counted the weekend days. I have never heard of a place that does not. I know of no institution that gives more than 2 calendar months in the Gulf. I know that many departments at Kuwait University don't really keep track of how long you're gone. All the other places that I have been counted the day - weekends and all - and even required that you turn in copies of the stamps in your passport to prove it.

As to the clash of some people with the person that does the observations - I have heard both good and bad about this fellow. I wouldn't want to have that job because it is a position that invariably makes you enemies. There are always going to be people in any administration that some people don't like. Such is working life Smile

In full disclosure, I know a number of people who have worked and do work at MLI. They seemed to have no more than the average beefs with their employers. To be honest, I wouldn't want to work there, but that is because I would not like to teach in an all-male environment (yes, sexist, I know - sorry guys) especially military males.

Holbrook, could you address the problem that MLI Vet seemed to suggest was common at MLI? He suggested repeatedly late pay and not receiving the 10% withholding when he left. I think both of you mentioned the problem of unused vacation days (that is a strange penalty that I have never encountered before - guess it forces you to think ahead and use those days before you go)

So for any people considering employment at MLI, their hassles are not markedly worse than other places. I agree with Holbook that most of this would be tolerable and Abu Dhabi can be a nice place to live. It will be more interesting to see what happens in the future with the change in management. I hear that a new employment contract is being worked out. It is supposedly to get rid of the 10% withholding for one thing. We will have to wait and see ---

VS
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TNT



Joined: 19 Jun 2003
Posts: 9

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 2:36 am    Post subject: Thanks for info about MLI. Reply with quote

Thanks to the writers above for their info on MLI. I have been actively looking through these message boards for such information as I am currently considering an MLI contract. Thanks so much for your time. This really helps me a lot!

TNT
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Mark100



Joined: 05 Feb 2003
Posts: 441

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 5:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

VS

I have to agree that all institutions in the Gulf count the weekend in the hols.

There is one place KFUPM in Dhahran that offers more than 2 months hols.

They get about 18-22 weeks depending on the year.
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 3:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mark100 -

I try not to speak too much for what happens in KSA since as a single woman, along with avoiding all-male teaching situations, I also avoided KSA. Smile It does give higher pay and better benefits as it must for the less desirable working and living conditions. I am sure that there are others in Saudi that give longer breaks, but it has seemed to me in the last few years that summer leaves are shrinking in many Gulf jobs. Almost every time I switched jobs, semester breaks and summer leaves were shorter. Another example of how jobs in the Middle East have been changing in the past 20 years ??

VS
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Stephen Jones



Joined: 21 Feb 2003
Posts: 4124

PostPosted: Sun Jun 22, 2003 5:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Most schools and universities in the Gulf give acadmic holidays. So you should be managing three months a year (two months at summer and the Ramadan and Hajj holidays). When neither Ramadan nor Hajj coincide with the end semester break then you can manage a little more.

The longest holidays I ever had were in Kuwait. I managed half term, Christmas, Ramadan, Easter and Hajj apart from the summer holiday one year (didn't save up much though!). Jordan also has both the Christian and Muslim holidays so the school year goes down to about 155 days as opposed to the 180 that are mandatory in England.

The country with the most holidays in the world is Sri Lanka because you get the Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim holidays. Mind you, it does mean you have to be careful when you go on holiday as you can find all tha banks closed at the strangest of times.
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holbrook



Joined: 14 Jun 2003
Posts: 60

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 3:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

In response to the comments posted by veiled sentiments I would like to offer some rebuttals.

First. Veiled sentiments claims that most places in the middle have problems paying their employees for months after their arrival. This is most certainly not true in the U.A.E.. Most universities in the U.A.E. like Zayed University, HCT, and U.A.E.U. not only pay you the first month but also give you around $10,000 U.S. upon arrival as part of your furniture allowance and relocation reimbursement. They take you to the bank your first day to open the account and deposit that money. Moreover, your normally put up in a hotel during the first week so you can settle in easily. Most of us MLIers arrive on a Thursday night and are dropped off penniless in a filthy apartment with no food except for an apple and a sandwich kindly prepared by the coordinator out of his own pocket. Of course, on Friday morning when you wake up hungry, tired and jet-lagged you cannot find anyplace to eat that is open, because it is Friday. You do not have a phone. You do not know anyone. And if it is summer you ca not even go outside to look because it is so hot. Fun.

Second. While veiled sentiments seems to think one vacation ticket is standard for a two year contract, this is clearly not the case at most U.A.E. universities. At the three universities mentioned above it is One vacation ticket for each year worked, plus arrival and return one ways. Moreover, the policy at MLI is in direct contradiction to the contract as worded. I would like to quote from my contract:
“Article 10: Air Tickets
…..will provide the second party with air tickets as follows:
a) For joining from home to the U.A.E.
b) For annual leave to home and back –ONCE IN A YEAR.
c) At the end of his service to his home.”
Notice how it has three parts, one for arrival, one for termination and one calling for a vacation ticket for each year not for each contract period!! This is blatant thievery!

Third. I think that veiled sentiments is right about the counting of vacation days here. Many places do seem to count weekends as vacation days. This being said, it makes you angry when you first figure it out. However it is not correct that less than two months is the standard vacation amount in the U.A.E. At most universities here it is two months plus a few days in the summer AND two to three weeks in the winter. Not 45 days including weekends.

Fourth. Yes it is true that most of the better jobs here do come with observations and lots of hoops to jump through. One difference is that many times those observations are performed by people with extensive teaching experience and by people who receive at least a modicum of respect from the teachers being observed. Not true in this case. Also, other places usually have a number of people involved in the process. This decreases the chance of personality conflicts becoming a major determining factor in the performance review. Reviews from a single source are clearly more vulnerable to basis than those done by a group of people.

Finally I would like to answer veiled sentiments question about the 10 percent withholding. It looks like that is going to be a thing of the past. It was a part of my contract and I expect to get it back when I leave here, as most people do (It does take 4 to 6 weeks after you contract termination date to collect this deposit and your last 2 months pay). The stuff that you here about two years with holding is a thing of the past and was just bureaucratic bumbling.

A final note on the days most recent gossip. Apparently the new contracts are going to be implemented across the board and all teachers will sign the new and improved contracts on the same day sometime this summer. Yippy! There is one catch though. Any unused vacation days that the teachers have left from the old contract are to be voided with or without compensation ( No one seems sure on this point but if compensated it will be at 25% of salary). Moreover all teachers scheduled to take leave are going to be asked to return early to sign that contract which of course voids any of the remaining days that they still had left on their leave. Still plenty of time for this one to be worked out but sounds scary.

Cheers
Holbrook
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johnslat



Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 4:20 am    Post subject: Tickets and holidays Reply with quote

Dear Holbrook,
I work in Saudi Arabia, not the UAE, so perhaps my comments aren't relevant. But I have worked here for quite a while and I do know a lot about the UAE. I agree with veiledsentiments about:
1. The ticket - I have NEVER heard of any place in the Middle East that would give you a round-trip ticket AND a " back home " ticket in your final year of service. I think you are misreading the contract ( the original is probably in Arabic, anyway, and translations are not always that accurate. )
2. The vacation/weekends matter - once again, I have NEVER heard of any place in the Middle East that did not count the weekends as part of the holiday. In fact, we usually get " extra days " since the summer holidays often start on Saturdays - so most people leave on Wednesday night.
Regards,
John
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Afra



Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Posts: 389

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 9:29 am    Post subject: Tickets and holidays Reply with quote

HCT and ZU certainly provide tickets for all eligible family members from the home base to the UAE. A return ticket each year for all eligible family members, including the final year of the contract, and a ticket out for all eligible family members.
Holidays are calendar days, not working days so weekends are counted except the first and last. All public holidays are paid holidays. This coming academic year, Eid al Adha falls during the mid-year break so that holiday should be extended for another week, however, until this happens . . .
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mli_vet



Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 99

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 2:56 pm    Post subject: Keep hammerin', Holbrook! Reply with quote

You're hitting the nail on the head, Holbrook! Better than I could have put it. That ticket deal is bogus, thievery indeed! And just 25% for unused holiday time?!? What a joke! These are real issues, real problems that it would be nice to know about before signing.


MLI Vet
Over and Out
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 3:38 pm    Post subject: Final Travel Tickets and a bit more Reply with quote

I avoid using HCT and ZU as my examples of Middle East employers. They tend to be the exception to every rule - so to speak - as if there were any rules controlling all this. Smile And I have heard nightmare stories about things that have happened at UAEU - although they have supposedly cleared up many of the problems that they had in the 90's. (mostly with no set pay pattern, everyone getting different rates - not paying for overtime - either very late or not at all - all this info should be still in the job information journal) Yes, HCT and ZU are happily places that get you on the payroll quickly - 'il'hamdullilah!!' If only they were all that way.

HCT put me into the hotel for my X number of days, handed me a check for furniture and then tried to put me into a flat that had a major construction site just under the bedroom windows (just blasting the hole - a couple of years of 24 hour contruction to follow. I refused it. They told me that they would stop paying for my hotel. I said fine, they could just drive me back to the airport. They decided they could pay a few more days. They found me an acceptable flat and told me that I had to be out of the hotel by the next day. The flat had nothing - no carpet, no appliances - bare concrete floors and plumbing. I told them I would move in when it was habitable. They said that they wouldn't pay for the hotel any longer. I again suggested that perhaps a ride to the airport may be our best choice. They decided that they could pay the couple days that it took to get it carpeted and basic furniture (appliances and a mattress). So all is not always smooth and perfect with dear HCT either.

MLI seems to follow the Kuwait University system - dump you penniless into a roach infested flat - no pay for the first two or three months (or was it four). The department head did take me shopping the next morning and would have lent me money if I had no already been prepared for the circumstances - warned beforehand by both her and other teachers.

And don't even get me started on the HCT observation and 'professional development' game!! Some of their colleges are nightmares in this regard.

As to tickets, I managed to find my HCT contract:

Annual Leave Tickets

12. 'The Employee shall be eligible to receive return air tickets between the UAE and the Country of Residence... subject to the following:

(next page)

12.2 'In the case of terminal leave at the conclusion of the contract the air tickets will be in accordance with provisions for Relocation.

(14 pages later in appendix)

10. End of service ticket from the UAE to (contract home)'

(Summary: a standard 3 year contract got two returns and two one-ways.)

I would be very surprised if the ZU contract is different since these two colleges tend to follow pretty much the same procedures as they are supervised by the same Ministry. But, I have not read their contracts.

SQU in Oman had wording similar to the MLI. The reality was that if you wished to take advantage of that second return ticket, you had to take leave for your 60 days and then come back and go through the exit procedures (at a time when the admin staff who handle it would also be on leave making completion darn near impossible). Since most people were heading off to a new job in another country, they usually just packed up their stuff and took their one way ticket and left. Certainly they could have packed up their stuff and left with their return ticket in hand, but they wouldn't have checked out and been able to get their gratuity. Since most everyone stayed for at least four years, this was usually a tidy little sum to give up.

Kuwait University contract:

5. One economy class air ticket for you, shall be issued at the beginning and end of the contract between Kuwait and your permanent place of residence... Summer holiday tickets are issued according to the above procedures. (pretty vague, but I can pretty much guarantee that no one ever got a return ticket at the end of their second contract year unless they had renewed.)

Can't find my other contracts - luckily for all of you.

As I said, I can only speak from my own years of experience and that of my many friends. Through the years it seemed a common thread over drinks in the local pub was the sharing of these kinds of stories. To survive in the Middle East, you need patience and a sense of humor. If you allow yourself to become bitter over the hiccups and vagaries of an imperfect system, you shouldn't go.

That is what makes a board like this so useful. People that read our messages and are bothered by our personal examples of things gone wrong should just consider teaching in some other part of the world. For those who can go with the flow - 'ahlan wa sahlan' - I wouldn't trade my years of experience over there for anything - problems and all.

'hallas haalas' (enough already...........finished) Smile

VS
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mli_vet



Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 99

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 7:50 pm    Post subject: Shukran Jazeelan Reply with quote

Shukran Jazeelan Mr. Veiled Sentiments. Your contract research helps put things into perspective. But I must confess I lean toward Holbrook's interpretation of the MLI contract. I wasn't in the first cadre of MLI recruits, but this first batch reported that MLI GHQ did follow this clause in the beginning. It is certainly open to misinterpretation!

If you're not the R. M. Amideaster, here's another guess. Just in case, I'll try not to blow your cover:

VS = Vanced Sentiments ?!?

Perhaps, perhaps not. Cheers in any case and Ma'a Salamma dude Cool (Californian?). How's the CALL going these days?

Ashoofak later dude.

MLI Vet
Over and Out
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veiledsentiments



Joined: 20 Feb 2003
Posts: 17644
Location: USA

PostPosted: Mon Jun 23, 2003 10:45 pm    Post subject: Well boys Reply with quote

I just checked and darned if I am not still a woman. Just as I have been for the last 50 some years. I did ask my mother to make sure and she swore it was true.

It gives your position little validity when you have to resort to insulting someone who does not agree with you. Even when given evidence to show that I am not creating my side of the story.

You both have given your valid complaints in reference to your experiences. I have noted those in my posting (re late pay and vacation pay cuts), and I have been able to give my side without resorting to immature insults or silly accusations.

VS
(Sorry, not Vance - though I do know him from Oman long ago)
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holbrook



Joined: 14 Jun 2003
Posts: 60

PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 4:44 am    Post subject: sorry Reply with quote

Dear veiled sentiments,
I would like to say I'm sorry for the implication that you were Randall Martin. It is just so hard for many of us here now, living through the MLI as it is now, to understand how a personal not immediately connected to the administration here to devote so much time to defend it. I'm sure you can see how strange that may seem to some of us. But enough about this. As you said before I'm sure you just have a lot of free time on your hands and enjoyment of vigorous debate. Me too.

Rereading the postings made on this list about the MLI I feel that we are not really catching the essence of the problem. It is true that contractually maybe the MLI is better than some places and worse than others. But there is more going on here than just that. I haven't made many posts to this list in the 5 years that I've been reading it. For the most part this is because I don't like complainers too much. I have always thought that if you dont' like some place than you should just leave. That's what many of us did with our home countries or other countries that we've lived or worked in.

But the mood here at the MLI has gone so sour so quickly it's hard to keep quite about it. It's not just the contract or the administration. It's the contract and the administration and everything else working together. It's also a lot about personalities. I left the last job and country that I was working in because I thought everyone was complaining too much over nothing. I came here looking for better. I liked the MLI because it seemed so professional and cutting edge. As of late this place has slid to point of such low moral that I feel like I'm student in high school or worse. There is so much drama, politics, backstabbing, etc. No one here seems happy.

When rumors of the new contract began receiving confirmation everyone was very excited. The bad stuff seemed to be going away. Little by little the small details of the new contract have changed. First they said we would receive furniture allowances, then they said not exactly. Instead of an allowance to spend as we like we will receive a batch of new furniture bought by other people on our behalf. They also said we'd get end of service bonuses, then they said not exactly. Instead of one months pay for each year worked we will get about 70% of one month's salary for every two years worked. Now they say that we will all sign these new contracts on August 1st regardless of when our old contract expires or our scheduled annual leave vacations. And once we sign the new contract all previously unused vacation days are immediately voided! Many of us have paid reservations, travel plans to see our families, family weddings to go to, etc. Too bad! Some teachers have 40,50, up to even 70 days vacation built up. Just come back on August 1st to sign the new contract and sit around with no classes to teach for 23 days. Why? Because administratively it is easier for them, so that's the way it is. People here are reaching there boiling point.

Sorry for such a long posting but what can I do? I have a lot to say. There's probably more to come as well. Very Happy

Holbrook
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mli_vet



Joined: 11 Jun 2003
Posts: 99

PostPosted: Tue Jun 24, 2003 2:56 pm    Post subject: What insult VS ?!? It was a guess (perhaps, perhaps not) ! Reply with quote

Wait a minute here VS, nobody's doing any insulting! Sorry Ms.Veiled Sentiments, but I didn't really think it was an insult to take a guess as to who you might be. Rolling Eyes You've gotta admit, Holbrook and I had reason for wondering why someone not really at MLI would have such in interest in defending MLI/GHQ, specifically as in asking a person to address a very particular contractual issue.

Ever hear that Tom Sawyer story where Tom was playing a girl but didn't fool the lady when he (playing she) tried to catch something in his (her) lap? (boys cross their legs to catch, girls--used to anyway--spread their skirts according to American author Mark Twain) I have to admit that that thought crossed my mind. But see here now, I did add the "perhaps, perhaps not" didn't I? And I added "just in case" as well! So don't take it as an insult VS, cause it wasn't intended as such.

You're right about this being "silly", but silly things do happen as those of us who've lived in the ME know.

Another "silly" thought that crossed my mind was the mental image of a certain veiled CALL Coordinator whom we both seem to know--Veiled Ste****. Now that's a picture! Razz Did you hear the one about the Abu Dhabi teens (locals) who put on abayas and sneaked into an Emirati bride's wedding tent to get a glimpse of the women? The women became suspicious when the 2 guys didn't remove their veils as everyone else did, and they were busted, pictures published in the Gulf News and all! Laughing That thought came to mind as well. So see, men can wear veils too! It happens !!! Lighten up! Wink

As for the validity of my position/postings, well that's a more serious issue. There are serious issues which, if Holbrook is correct, are just going to fester some more rather than being resolved. This is a big deal! Why should this have to happen anyway? The MLI Admin/GHQ don't have to jerk teachers around like this ! ! ! Exclamation If they've got the power to change the contract and make teachers sign again, why can't they just get it right? I had quite a few vacation days left at the end of my tenure and was very disappointed to learn that not only would I not be receiving my "annual" contractual vacation tickets, but that I would also be receiving only 25% salary for these unused days. That's gougery, plain and simple! And the gougery looks set to continue on indefinitely, i.e. 70% of a months salary "gratuity" for every 2 years! (Wow! Thanks GHQ--everyone else gets a month's salary for each year of service according to UAE Labor Law from which the UAE Armed Forces seems to think it has an exemption). "New" furniture, purchased no doubt from local big wig Colonel Al somebody or other (maybe one of the Al Suweidi/Al Shamsi/Al Dhahiri furniture stores Question ).

As I've already said, I'll be over and out soon enough. This gougery is ridiculous, and I for one won't just keep my head down and be quiet about it. If people know about this, guess what? MLI/GHQ will have to change these policies of gougery if they want to attract and retain qualified ELT professionals. We've gotta deal with these straws here and keep that camel's back from breaking !

Cheerio Exclamation Exclamation Exclamation Wink

MLI Vet
Over and Out
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