Job Discussion Forums

[Babala]

A friend of mine has been at the same private school in China for 5 years now but recently she has been having numerous problems. I'll start by saying that until recently I would say the school is average. I worked there myself when I first came to China. It's wasn't the best but there are schools way worse. Here's the present situation.

They have been paid late 3 times since February. The travel bonus they were supposed to receive before Spring Festival came 6 weeks late and their pay was about a week late. They were also paid late in April (not sure about how late on this one). They were due to be paid before the May holiday and they were not. This caused a few teachers to have to cancel travel plans. After 10 days, they still had yet to be paid. My friend and 3 other teachers refused to teach until they got paid. I would also like to add that the Chinese teachers hadn't been paid in 3 months and the school was constantly crying poor. Fourteen days later and still no pay, one of the teachers went to the Nanjing PSB with documentation that the school hadn't paid them. The PSB called the school and a day later the teachers were paid.

The man at the PSB told the teacher that he and 3 other teachers should not have stopped teaching. In the teacher's contract, it says that for every class a teacher misses, they will be fined 200 RMB. The school is very angry that the teachers went to the PSB so now there is worry that they won't receive their full pay for May.

What I want to know is does a school have the right to enforce the penalty when they themselves were in breach of the that contract at the time?

[therock]

There is a simple solution................QUIT. I can't understand why foreigners put up with this crap...........if I were in this situation I would just leave.

[Tomato_Can]

[Babala]

She hasn't picked up and quit for two reasons. One is her daughter goes to school there and she doesn't want to pull her out before the end of the school year. The other reason is that her contract finishes at the end of August. The school pays summers and then owes her airfare and medical allowance. That's quite a bit of money.

[kev7161]

Yeah, to cavalierly say "quit" without knowing ALL the details is not too sound of advise generally.

However, to hear that the PSB says you can be fined for not working all your hours is a ridiculous thing to say (not that they won't be fined, rather those at the PSB seemingly not understanding WHY they stopped working - no pay, no work). I hate crap like that.

[Babala]

kev,
The PSB didn't say anything about the fine. They just told the teacher that they should have continued working. The teachers were in talking to the Head of the FAO yesterday. Apparently she was pretty angry and told the teachers that they let the students down and that they never should have stopped working. The fine isn't definate. They just have a bad feeling about it.

What I want to know is can a teacher be held to a contract when the school has already breached it.

[jamesmollo]

That's a bit of a grey area babala. Now the school's pissed off and more than likely will charge them the money whether it's legal or not.
Going on strike is not something I would recommend.Like you mentioned about the chinese teachers being paid 3 months late. That's common and the school were no doubt perplexed by your friend's behaviour 'what's the problem?'
Well it's too late now isn't it...lesson learned. Never go on strike, leave if it's a serious breach. And considering your friend's situation with the daughter.Again, not a good idea I'm sad to say.

[therock]

Generally the contracts here are not worth the paper they are printed on. There is not much your friend can do, basically because she has a daughter at the school.

[eslstudies]

As far as I know, striking is illegal in the PRC. The school seems to have breached its contract several times, but that's a different matter.
By breaching her end of the deal, and with being a foreigner with few contacts or resources, I don't like her chances of a win.
Often though, this kind of action does work. Xiao Wang tells parents English class was cancelled because the waijiao wasn't paid. Lao Wang, outraged, [big wads of cash paid for this course] calls the Pres. Situation resolved.
Students can be the most powerful people in schools.

[Babala]

I should also add that another reason the FAO was so mad is because after the FT's did this, some of the Chinese teachers followed suit. Another thing the school is doing is trying to get all the teachers to return their FEC's.

It's also a bad time of year to be job hunting.

[eslstudies]

These Chinese teachers are brave. A teacher agitating for overdue salary payments died mysteriously in Hunan some years ago. It actually got coverage in the Shanghai press! Often the missing salaries have been pocketed by someone else. There's a lot of unrest being picked up now by the more responsible Western media: rioting against the one child policy for EG.
I think your friend can find a better school, however.

[jamesmollo]

If the school is requesting they return their FEC that is not a good sign for what may lay ahead.
Have they given anything in writing as to their intentions?
Sounds like a storm 'tis a brewin.
I must say I'm quite surprised the chinese teachers jumped on the band wagon. Seems like there is more to this story....
How about some details of the contract? A private school hmm could say anything.

[Babala]

It's a private school, goes from kindergarten to senior three. The enrollment has gone down and the owners of the school invested in another school which failed. The school has made a deal to sell the land in about 2 years I think (not too postive on all the details). They have said that they won't have foreign teachers next year.

[clark.w.griswald]

I would recommend that these teachers pursue the FAP angle as it seems that they have a sympathetic FAP there. Once they take the law into their own hands there is no telling what could happen.

If any of them want out of the contract without being penalized then perhaps they can pursue this option with the help of the FAP on the basis that the school has breached the penalty first for failing to pay on time.

If they want to stay till the end of the year and collect their benefits (which I would be very careful about if I were them) then probably the best thing to do I would think is to simmer down until next months payday. If the money is not paid on time then collectively head down to the FAP again and have them help you collect your payments.

I don't think that they will win this one through reason nor brute force. So it is probably best to use logic, and having the authorities on your side is probably the most logical way to get what you want.

BTW: I don't agree with the practice of involving the students in this sort of thing. In my opinion this should all be between the school, the teachers, and if necessary a third party authority.

[jg]

Horrible and exploitive situation. However, by continuing to teach there - even if for future financial bonuses - they kind of compromise themselves. You cannot put a price tag on your morals, especially after you have gone to the trouble of approahing the PSB and boycotting classes. I realize they want to get something for their grief but the school might see that as them sticking around for their benefit, so apparently its "each for himself".

The Teacher with the kid enrolled there, a bit different. As are the Chinese Teachers. It's telling that the Chinese Teachers might either be retained or fired, but the school director just decides that next year there will be no foreign teachers. Sounds like he regards them more as a attractive luxury to draw in students than as quality professionals to be respected.

As far as Chinese Teachers going on strike... they don't march with signs and whatnot, but they have other ways of making their displeasure known, and my Chinese friends who are public school teachers often act as a collective to express their feelings.