Job Discussion Forums

[dakelei]

Actually at present I AM hurting for money. That's the main reason I'm still pursuing this. On top of that I'm darned determined to make sure nobody ever gets taken by this place again. I'm making a last-ditch effort here to get the money and if I can't I'm going splash this school's name on every ESL teacher's site I can find. The only reason I haven't done it yet is that I'm still holding out hope the place will pay me SOMETHING. It owes me anywhere from 5,000 to 15,000 yuan, depending on how the contract is �interpreted.� At this point I'd settle for the low figure. It just galls me that they can get away with this.

[Songbird]

I'm in a similar situation. My current uni (who I am finishing up with in a month) is suddently refusing to pay me summer pay (this is 10,000rmb we're talking about), even though it's very clear in the contract, suddenly the FAO is saying he made a mistake and gave me the wrong contract (also done this to another teacher too). The other teacher (who we shall call 'Tornado FT') has stormed in and the FAO really hates him with everything he's done over the year. He also stormed in and basically embarrased the FAO about this summer pay situation which I do not think this helped matters. However FAO and I chatted and came to some arrangements which I won't talk about here due to confidentiality, but I certainly hope he keeps his word, otherwise I will take it further.

[evaforsure]

All and all, I hope you get your money.. Waiting is the surest way.. I once had to wait till the next school year but showed up on the first day.. Surprised to see me they were indeed but they did pay realizing that I would not give up.. Steady and quit determination is the surest road to recovering your mullah....

but this is a good point and why I always deal with cash at the end of the month and take no housing, travel, or food allowances and instead settle for cash on the barrel head at the end of the month... sent in the bank.. and not handed to me in a dodgy envelope...it is hard for the Chinese employer to squelch on his deal if he has already paid your month due....

Since no board is permanent as to complaints and few even have a place for them, (I think Dave�s use to)�.writing them up does little good and besides if it is the FAO and not a policy of the school.. the next leader could be more likely to give the FT a fair break ..and the offending FAO only travels to a new school�and begins to ply his misdeeds again�so doesn�t help much.. better to focus on the return of the money owed�

[Hansen]

The no plane fare reimbursment rule is not unusual. Although probably a lie, I have been told that the school itself must submit a copy of the plane ticket in order to be reimbursed by the government. No go home, no money.

Since I don't usually return to the states, my school agreed to eliminate the plane fare reimbursemnt and raise my salary to compensate me, which they have done.

Potato's kamikazi approach is sometimes effective, but only if you are prepared to leave if they don't comply.

Going on strike until legitimate demands are met can be effective. Tell your department head that because the administration is violating your contract, you won't be teaching classes until the issue is resolved. You may enlist the help of your department head. He can be more effective in negotiating than you can.

It may be a matter of principle that the foreigner must be cheated. If you can spin it so that other Chinese i.e., your department head, is also being cheated, you may get relief.

If that doesn't work, be prepared to lose or leave.

[dakelei]

Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my previous posts. I can't �leave� if they don't pay me because I already left. This debt goes back to last term. My contract expired back in January '08 and it wasn't renewed so I had no choice but to leave the place and try my luck elsewhere. I completely understand if they don't want to pay me airfare if I'm not actually flying home. I'm not all that unreasonable a guy. After a careful reading of my contract, however, I discovered that half the airfare money was supposed to be paid to me within a month after I arrived at the school. It never was. I feel I should at the very least get that half and if they don't want to give me the rest, well, fine. I was also not paid my final month's salary before I had to hastily retreat. The school did more or less the same thing to another FT, from England. He, too, bitched and he too didn't have his contract renewed. Last I heard he was given at least some of the money he was promised but only after he and his Chinese wife ran from one office to another including the university president's. I had no Chinese ally to help me because it seemed everyone I knew worked for the uni in one way or another, or was a student at the place, and wouldn't risk their own neck for a laowai when it came right down to it. This whole episode perturbs me to no end because I rather innocently believed that this crap didn't happen at �real� schools here. Are there, in fact, any real schools here in China?

[JGC458]

Re the no-plane-ticket-no-money-rule, in one of my contracts I did manage to stick in a clause saying if I didn't buy a return/round trip ticket back home at the end of the school year that I would be given a bonus for the maximum value of the money they'd pay.

At my current school they haven't allowed amendments to the contract, but they told me (and for various reasons I believe them) that if I don't go back home that I can present them with fa piao up to the max amount and they'll pay me the airfare money that way.

OP, perhaps you could suggest that to the school? (If you can get hold of enough fa piao.)

[Hansen]

The "real" schools may be even harder to deal with because of the face issue. Since they have a certain status, they can't be wrong and are certainly not accountable to a laowai.

I had a mess up by an incompetent FAO while studying, not teaching. The visa goof up cost me a few hundred RMB, which I demanded that the goofer pay out of his own pocket. I presented my pitch in such a way that the blame was entirely on the FAO, not the school; therefore, he should personally pay, not the school.

I was able to recover half from the school. I was so surprised that they offered me anything that I accepted half without argument. Had I pushed my case, I might have recovered more, since I bore no fault at all.

[evaforsure]

[dakelei]

No, I never gave them a ticket because I arrived from another city in
China. I have been exchanging messages with the FAO these past few
days and their latest tactic is swearing I need to be there in person to
sign something, knowing I'm far away and that will be difficult or impossible. They seemed to agree to allow me to fax them a document with my signature. Let's see how that goes.

[Raindrops]

Can you send a "good friend" to pick up the money for you? It is common practice in Asia.

Don't look at me I am not available.

[dakelei]

Everyone I know in that city either works for the school or is a student
there. I don't want to involve them as it could certainly make their life
unpleasant.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[dakelei]

I really wish I was better at this whole "negotiating" thing but I really
suck at it. Their obvious stalling tactics just get me so flustered I wind
up losing my temper. A good thing about being far away is I'm using
mostly text messages now so they can't see or hear me. It actually helps me think before I say something and gives me time to relax before I get angry.

[JGC458]

dakelei, I'd use email instead of texting. In my view emails are less deniable than SMS. I like to have as much "proof" as I can of what the school has said/agreed to when negotiating.

Also emailing is probably free for both parties...

[StephanieB]

Cher ami,

Please PM me. I encountered a similar experience with a sleaze institution in a similar institution. At that point I was still timid, easily frazzled and easily broken but I learned my lesson and as we say in French, "cela m'a bien servi" for future events.

I can give you some good local pointers.

Dans l'attente de vous lire, je suis,

Votre toute devouee,


Stephanie B.
Paris / Shanghai
2009.05.21