Job Discussion Forums

[ESLteacher]

zz

[Maltezer]

I think I may have to do this myself soon and will detail the process on the Board if I think it will be useful to others.
For the first time (this is my 5th year in the PRC) I am having a 'problem' claiming back the first half of my airfare from London to Kunming. The prices last summer were high following the terrorist attack the previous year. The Foreign Affairs Office say they have never had to pay so much (RMB7000 single); I also say I have never had to pay so much.
After the break, I have to go to the third step up the ladder.

[arioch36]

I have talked to several people who successfully took care of problems this way. One spoke beginning Chinese, she said this helped a lot. The other needed to take someone. One was in Guanxi Nanning? Both said that the person they talked was helpful, not hateful, or threatening.
Talked to someone else in Urumqi, said the building had an armed guard outside, and he had noone that could speak English with him.
I think i said once, if any one in Henan needs such help, I can put you in touch with the right person in Zhengzhou. This is not "guanxi". I have none, thankfully. I have talked to the guy, whose English is poor. He never had such a situation, but made it seemed that it would be somewhat similar to a small claims court in the US, you go there, and just say what you believe.
They do have the power to heavily fine a party who doesn't follow the contract, or the state rules.

[Roger]

To Maltezer,
next time around, require your employer to pay your airfare in monthly instalments! Add it to your contract clauses!
This way, it won't even hurt (so much) if you terminate your job early!

Once an unscrupulous manager at a training centre tried to short-change me. His business was not his - he was an employee of a library. The library had an unworkable system: The training centre was a money-making machine but removed from their own control. Every manager helped himself to the revenues - two of them got fired in three years (Shenzhen City Library).
As so often, classes were routinely cancelled on the evening they were supposed to be held. This caught me off guard three times.
On the third time, I demanded my wages, and he said I had no proof for having worked there! That was true!

So I went to one of the Directors of the library, who was a civil servant. He was well-disposed towards me, no doubt an advantage under these circumsances. I had donated books to the library before.
In a matter of minutes, the unlucky manager was hauled into his office. He was made to apologise and pay my dues, although not the hours I had counted on teaching that had been cancelled late.

[rick_martin_78]

How does one contact the State Bureau of Foreign Experts?

[Stitch]

I have a number for SAFEA in Beijing: its 010-6894-8899 ext 50541. The dood's name is Mr Jie Ling. They speak decent english there... I don't know if this will help though. I've been calling people in the Chinese Gov't for over a month and nothing has come of it.

I tried calling this SAFEA number and they just told me to contact the provincial education commission of the province.... i'm in Hubei. If you are in Hubei and need numbers of PEC and FAO here, I can provide them, just email me. So i've contacted the PEC over a month ago. I've faxed them my contract, and numerous documents. I've talked to a nice lady in the PEC who actually phoned up my employer and was investigating my case, however its been over a month and haven't heard anything back from them. I think they just all shut down for chinese new years or something...

I'm in the process of just hiring a lawyer. I've heard that people have successfully sued in the Chinese Courts so i'm giving that a try (i'll be hella pissed if I get screwed over again though!! I've heard that there are a bunch of crooked lawyers who will just take your money and run. If anyone has any experience in sueing, i'd be interested in hearing about it.

Another thing you can do is complain to as many people as you can. Complain to TEFL.com if they put ads up there (they actually listen and may bar them from posting up further ads), complain to your embassy, post up as many warnings as you can, anywhere you can think of. Just gotta make as much noise you can and fight!!

[arioch36]

Yes, often little gets done during the winter or summer vacation. Keep us posted. This is the stuff we all should know. Unfortunately in every country there are the people who think they can take advantage of anyone, especially foreigners. And they count on meekness and intimidation