Job Discussion Forums

[Iamherebecause]

OK, so can anyone quash or confirm the one about how all UAEU faculty are to get a 45% pay-rise on top of the 25% they got at the end of January? It has been gathering momentum for the last couple of weeks or so.

[veiledsentiments]

Obviously you haven't read the other rumor thread that they are stopping hiring because of budget cuts... at all Higher Education establishments.

Now this is getting totally ridiculous.

VS

[773]

This rumour is all over the university. Apparently the extra 45% is supposed to bring the initial 25% raise up to the 70% that other gov't employees got. I have also heard that it has already been approved, but discussions are underway as to if the additional increase should be 40% or 45%.

It's pretty wild and seems pie in the sky to me. But if it happens, I am going to stay here until retirement.

[ardiles81]

I think that this would be a shocking and irresponsible thing to do as it would just add fuel to the inflationary cycle in which we are. Wage restraint is the order of the day.

[veiledsentiments]

Actually it would not. Right now the majority of people who got the 70% were low on the pay scale and it allows them to pay for the basics - which may contribute to inflation.

To give it to foreign hire teachers, who are already very high on the pay scale would not. Most of these people will invest the money abroad, so it won't enter the local economy in the same way.

If you read the complaints here about the cut in pay because of inflation, invariably they say that they can barely save the $1000-3000 a month that they used to do.

VS

[nomel]

What's a high payscale for a teacher in Higher Education?

[Iamherebecause]

VS doesn't live here so doesn't really know how hard inflation plus the dollar peg bite. Everything has gone up; a Euro today costs more in dirhams (5.5) than a pound did back in 2000 (5.2 dhs; currently pound sterling is at approx 7.3 dirhams). I am not sure I know anyone with a normal lifestyle, e.g. has a family, likes a decent holiday once a year and a well-maintained reliable car, who has ever saved thousands a month, especially if they are from outside the dollar zone. Inflation affects everything from petrol to milk to shoes to hotels to restaurants small and large, and if you leave the UAE in the summer then the exchange rate clobbers you if you go to Oz, NZ, UK, Eurozone.

Meanwhile, back at UAEU (to return to the thread) the last pay-rise before the 25% was in 2000; and inflation has been in double figures for some time now. There are still people whose salaries are way behind those of more recently hired staff - that's the issue they really ought to tackle.

[veiledsentiments]

[Iamherebecause]

[veiledsentiments]

[773]

[Iamherebecause]

Well, the people who go on about how you can save a shedload here just as long as you don't have a maid, rarely if ever go out to eat etc tend to be single/childless in my experience. If there's more than one of you in a household, including growing children or teenagers, the rise in food prices is more of an issue, as is the rise in price of imported goods such as footwear or books, or the increase in taxi-fares, cinema tickets, you name it.

VS seems to have missed the points that 1) ardiles' message was tongue in cheek and 2) in terms of how it affects expat teachers, inflation not only affects how much or indeed if teachers can save but also their general expenditure. Telling that particular truth doesn't mean I don't understand economics.

[Elie Night]

Not to be picky VS, but don't cha mean AFFECT? You said.....

Another one who can't read. duh... Nowhere did I make any statement that there is no inflation nor that it doesn't effect teachers.

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_spelprob.html

[/b]

[veiledsentiments]

Life is much too short to nitpick long posts Elie... if you can't figure it all out from context, too bad. If you have a few hours to kill, you could read a few thousand of my posts and find plenty more. I'm sure that every one of your posts have been and will be letter perfect.

And as I said... a waste of time trying to explain basic economics to TEFL teachers. Ardile may have been tongue in cheek, but his statement was accurate. Raising salaries does fuel inflation... for lower level employees who pour it all back into the economy. (and one should avoid commenting on a salary whine that includes referencing the maid... )

VS

[al bidarnd]