Job Discussion Forums

blah blah blah · Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 3

If you are considering applying to this school, or even thinking about accepting an offer - please note that they do NOT treat their teachers according to the Labour Law of the country. For example - new moms are allowed 45 days leave - Al Nahda does not honour that. Also, they have just witheld my salary because I did not hand in a document I did not even know about ! Yes, it is definitely sour grapes but there are just too many teachers there who are treated unfairly and with total disrespect. I had the accountant throw the telephone receiver down while I was talking to him !
SO - BEWARE !! Especially SOUTH AFRICAN TEACHERS - you will get the short end of the stick salary wise ! [/b]

Iamherebecause · Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 7:53 am Post subject: Labour Law

Unfortunately this is not unusual. For example according to UAE Labour Law, employers are supposed to pay the costs of sorting out residence visas. Now, hands up who paid for their own residence visa including all the associated csts, HIV tests etc? And works for the public sector? And daren't take issue with their employer? Then there's health insurance - the Labour Law on this one changed but in education we don't seem to get the benefits... don't get me started.

Noelle · Joined: 26 Mar 2005 Posts: 361 Location: USA

I couldn't help responding to this post. It seems that South African teachers are often mistreated all over the place in the EFL world. I encountered many teachers in Asia from South Africa who were not paid near what they were worth and often treated very poorly by their employers while teachers from other countries were respected more.

What is the reason for this? Anyone...?

blah blah blah · Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 3

I have encountered this on numerous occasions and it always makes me think...Why is it that teachers from ex-British colonies like Australia and the USA are automatically respected - regardless of their actual teaching ability, whereas teachers from ex-colonies like India and South Africa are not ? South African teachers are hard working, competent and most of them are NATIVE speakers, for goodness sakes ! This snobbery is perpetuated by some teachers from the so-called First World- that anyone who is from Africa or India is sub-standard. Har Har !!
Could the ESL world be perpetuating these misconceptions ? I smell a racist / xenophobic rat ! HAR HAR !!

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

I suspect that the teachers from South Africa and India are paid less because they will accept it... and accepting it causes the employers to look down on those who allow themselves to be taken advantage of...

...rather a self-perpetuating thing.

VS

blues clues · Joined: 28 Jul 2004 Posts: 61

Well said VS. This is so true. I've met so many S. Africans for example who are teaching private lessons to rich Emirati familes for 50 dirham per hour! And yes, it's a fact that if you don't negotiate or just take the first offer, directors, etc, think your a push over. S. Africans sit back and whine about how they're treated, but say NOTHING to those who can fix the problem Certainly not all S. Africans are the same. I've worked with many however, and have observed many of them as "yes" people. I suppose they'd even agree to clean the staff toilet if asked to. Question,;does the writer feel there's a difference between the way S. African whites are treated compared to blacks. I've been in staff rooms with them. They can hardly look at each other....could cut the tension with a knife.

blah blah blah · Joined: 23 Jan 2007 Posts: 3

Stereotypes do exist, and it is unfortunate that you have come across such South Africans. Believe me, for the most part, they are anything but YES -men and women. I work with many South Africans and they are the people who stand up in meetings and demand change. My closest colleauge tutors for 150 dirhams an hour - a South African ! And there are many more like that. Historically, south africans are not yes-people, they demand their rights and stand up for what they believe in.

Unfortunately, the last comment about race is true for some..some white south africans will never ever change. They are the dumb, ignorant and vile people who give the rest of us a bad name. I do not even want to talk about their attitude. I despise them.

globalnomad2 · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 562

Personally, I have met only a couple of South Africans while I was in the HCT system. One of them was an IT manager; I assume his pay was on the same scale as everyone else, since HCT does things properly in terms of pay and benefits.

As far as Arab or Indian-run companies and institutions' hiring practices are concerned, I suspect there is some confusion about who from South Africa is a native speaker, and how strong are the "accents." (Assuming we're talking about EFL hires.) There is Afrikaans, Swahili or whatever the local native languages are, and English; South Africa is a multilingual country and it may not be clear to some who is a native speaker of English and who isn't. In other words, it isn't as easy to figure out as, say, Canada...outsiders may think of it more like Luxembourg, where people speak French, German and Luxembourgish but none of those languages very well.