Job Discussion Forums

[Weixinghua]

Jilin Star International, based in Changchun, is one of those companies that preys on foreign teachers. I worked part-time one semester with no problems but second semester, when I was supposed to be full-time, they messed up my schedule, told me to move to another city and cancelled it after I had packed and moved my stuff to the sidewalk, paid me late two months in a row (8 days late in April), never got my resident's visa or evaluated me as per contract, tried to remove me from a wonderful school and move me to a third city, and then, when I resigned for breach of contract, refused to pay me what they owe me, blamed me for resigning and the owner and manager called me names.
Their contract on the internet is missing a number of features designed to reip off teachers such as making them pay Y300 per month damage deposit on the apartment provided which will probably not be reimbursed at the end of the year.
Another teacher tried to collect her final pay, airfare home and release document at the end of the year and was told she had been fired five days earlier and would get nothing. Her new school had great difficulty getting the release document; allegedly Star wants a bribe.
The new manager drives an Audi. Allegedly the company has foreign teacher buy cars at the foreign teachers discount and keeps them.

[Teatime of Soul]

May I suggest reposting this or having the mods move this to the China forum?

Many China forum readers never read the general Forum and will miss your warning.

Thanks for posting.

[cj750]

[californian]

Welcome to China!

[haysey]

I was working with Star International as well. Enjoying the place they put me and the teaching, the people in the town are great and the students are fabulous, BUT.... with the way I feel I've been treated by this company, it makes me feel very very de-motivated towards teaching alot of the time.

Whenever they have had the opportunity to take money away from me (when I was close to being broke, due to what I think is their lack of organisation skills and lies) they have taken the money away... or my passport, which I have not seen in months. And they feel they have a very valid and legal reason for keeping it.

There is a great article Weixinghua on this website:

http://www.davidcrompton.co.uk/blog/category/runner/

Loved every bit of it, and I'm sure very soon I will be typing an article about them which is even more interesting to read.

Adios

[lostinasia]

You and you alone are responsible for your passport. Handing over to them blindly is your responsibility. Yes, they "need it" to take the local PSB, however YOU can do that as well. I demand something in place of my passport for such an occurrence - say a 10,000 or more RMB deposit.

Talking about it on the board won't bring it back. Call the police, call your embassy, throw eggs at the school director - Get It Back !

[brsmith15]

I agree with lost. The passport is the property of your government. Get ahold of your local mission and tell them it was stolen.

[vikdk]

[tazmania]

Vikdk is spot on. Star know every nasty trick in the book and they abuse their position of trust, mainly through threats lies and intimidation.

It's run by a chap who goes by the name of Peter Guo, he's an ex lawyer and higly connected with the Changchun PSB. He got me my RP and FEC issued before i had even signed the contract!

[cj750]

I know Peter (I met him) and he hangs at the Shangri la health club with the local gangsters .... he is pretty smart and his "juice" is betrayed by his small appearence ....

[jeffinflorida]

What another teacher ripped out of his final salary? I thought only stellar companies like BYD stole their employees pay at the end...

[Middleman]

I was just having a read over some of the posts here regarding the Changchun based company - Star International. In fact, I am working for Star now, and have done so at various intervals since October 2006. It�s a shame that so many people appear to have had a rough time working with them. My personal experience has been somewhat different. To date I�ve had no problems with my employment here, specifically with being paid in a timely manner, though I can only talk about my own experience of course. It is true that a monthly deposit is taken for the apartment. It totals 2,400 yuan by the end of the year, which is equivalent to around 150 pounds or 300 US dollars. It seems reasonable enough to me to extract a damage deposit for the apartment, as long as it is refunded everything being in good order. It�s certainly not uncommon in the UK for landlords to do this. Changing schools halfway through the year is admittedly a drag if you have to do this. After developing a relationship with your students, the last thing you want to do is to uproot and start all over again. I guess the company has its reasons, whatever they are. I�m sure it would be less work for them too if everyone just stayed in their original school.

[TreKidation]

hmmmmm

It's not acceptable to take deposit money for this situation in China. Considering there is little to no recourse for having the money returned to you should they decide not to do it is entirely unacceptable. When there is no real way to determine what is your fault and the fault of normal wear and tear it is unacceptable. When most "landlords" will not make your home come to western standard on many issues a place it is unacceptable.

It is not acceptable to "uproot" you at any time during your contract.

Whatever their reasons are they are unacceptable. Contracts have a purpose.

I just read the blog for the Weixinghua user that only came here to post his complaint and has never been back.

Nearly his entire post is all bunk -- ridiculous garbage and he never accepted, and in fact, clearly denounced ANY responsibility.

Complete garbage. That's not to say that the employer didn't have any responsibility in this - but he put up with it and took no legal means of enforcement, consequence, and so on. I have NO sympathy for this guy. He accepted the contract and conditions and yet wanted to be paid for walking to work and the like.

The point being - have knowledge of your conditions of employment before you come and don't complain that you have to work too much or don't get paid for 1 hour but for one 90 minute 'class' or so on. Take personal responsibility for acquiring the FACTS

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

[7969]