Job Discussion Forums

[Cubism]

Do unis actually enforce these things?

This is the first year I've seen them in such profusion. Every single contract has a clause like this: "In addition, Party B is required to attend, help with the planning of and participate in any and all activities arranged by the Foreign Language Department."

Please note that the extra hours are unspecified -- So to my rebellious soul, it seems like I'm a no joke indentured servant for 10 months. They can cut in on my free time (writing my articles & books) any time they want.

It was all so easy in earlier years. Chinese uni contracts said 16 hrs./wk at xxxx yuan. or at the worst, 16 hrs. at xxxx plus 1 hr. weekly of English Corner.

Thanks.

Cubism

[evaforsure]

This is used as a catch all phrase sometime to incl. activities that cannot be qualified as hours worked...such as sport meets.. but also to incl. off hours spent with students...as such can also be used to avoid paying bonus and air fare due to the "unfulfilled" contract based on these activities...example "you didn�t spend enough time with your student out of class, so we cannot give you your bonus"

[JGC458]

[Hansen]

I would not agree to such an open ended and ambiguous item in a contract. These responsibilities could include English lessons for some children, nerve wracking travel on public transport, and so forth.

Ask them to remove the item or look for another job, or agree and grit your teeth, dreading every phone call or meeting with your boss.

I've been lucky. My school asks me to do some things once in a while. Rarely, in the years I've been here, have I ever been asked to teach the full 16 hours required by the contract. Glad to help out.

[Jayray]

[kev7161]

I make it very clear in every new contract that I am expected to work "up to" XXX hours per week and that any hour after that is subjected to over time. My school has been really good paying that overtime if the situation warrants. We recently had a teacher leave our department in a huff so the school asked me and some others to cover his classes until the end of the term. When I brought up the overtime pay (100 rmb per class) that each teacher would expect, my director looked shocked for a moment, but then conceded. Not that I'm too keen on working an extra period each day for the next 3-4 weeks, but the extra "bonus" on my end-of-June pay packet sure will be nice!

[englishgibson]

what i find amazing is that if you have it changed in your contract, they'll change it back later and offer the same cr*p to the next ft. i've experienced a similar situation before..not only that they changed it back but also added more nonesense for the next one

cheers and beers to our spicy employment contracts as well as cheers and beers to our forums that let us know what goes on

[Cubism]

Thanks so much for this reponse!

I think I'll accept one of the universities -- in Dalian -- but will
1. Draw a line through the "open-ended ambiguous" phrases & initial the changes. The FAO assured me that they never gave extra work without paying for it, but to be on the safe side I'll do this.

By the way, this plan made me a little shakey until you sent your support.

2. go up there & see if I like it, then go to the office & give them the signed contract.

And it is funny how next year the contract will be even more bogged down w/ ambiguous junk. Nothing I can do. I think of Cervantes and windmills: I've trained myself this year to be selfish, though moral.

Finally, the all-time winner of "Ridiculous Expectations and Sneaky Contracts" goes to a grad school in the NE. The contract was fit for a vacuum cleaner salesman in the 50's. Incentives, percentages, shaming, ambiguity galore. Finally the guy explained that "remember that you're teaching graduate students!" and my extra duties would include "helping them" write their theses. (Have you ever done that in China? Aruggh! Never again!)

Cubism

[Cubism]

Thanks so much for this reponse!

I think I'll accept one of the universities -- in Dalian -- but will
1. Draw a line through the "open-ended ambiguous" phrases & initial the changes. The FAO assured me that they never gave extra work without paying for it, but to be on the safe side I'll do this.

By the way, this plan made me a little shakey until you sent your support.

2. go up there & see if I like it, then go to the office & give them the signed contract.

And it is funny how next year the contract will be even more bogged down w/ ambiguous junk. Nothing I can do. I think of Cervantes and windmills: I've trained myself this year to be selfish, though moral.

Finally, the all-time winner of "Ridiculous Expectations and Sneaky Contracts" goes to a grad school in the NE. The contract was fit for a vacuum cleaner salesman in the 50's. Incentives, percentages, shaming, ambiguity galore. Finally the guy explained that "remember that you're teaching graduate students!" and my extra duties would include "helping them" write their theses. (Have you ever done that in China? Aruggh! Never again!)

Cubism

[Cubism]

Thanks so much for this reponse!

I think I'll accept one of the universities -- in Dalian -- but will
1. Draw a line through the "open-ended ambiguous" phrases & initial the changes. The FAO assured me that they never gave extra work without paying for it, but to be on the safe side I'll do this.

By the way, this plan made me a little shakey until you sent your support.

2. go up there & see if I like it, then go to the office & give them the signed contract.

And it is funny how next year the contract will be even more bogged down w/ ambiguous junk. Nothing I can do. I think of Cervantes and windmills: I've trained myself this year to be selfish, though moral.

Finally, the all-time winner of "Ridiculous Expectations and Sneaky Contracts" goes to a grad school in the NE. The contract was fit for a vacuum cleaner salesman in the 50's. Incentives, percentages, shaming, ambiguity galore. Finally the guy explained that "remember that you're teaching graduate students!" and my extra duties would include "helping them" write their theses. (Have you ever done that in China? Aruggh! Never again!)

Cubism

[JGC458]

Cubism, if I were you I would try to get rid of the ambiguous clauses as well - I did that with my 2nd school and it worked. But some schools refuse to budge (my current uni for example) and may choose to hire a different FT as they see you as troublesome.

It's up to you what you do. It's definitely worth a try. But be prepared if they react badly. If they flatly refuse to change any clauses, you need to have already decided what you're going to do.

And I get the impression that the better the school (in the sense of people thinking it's a good school so it would look good on a CV/resume you having worked there) the less likely that an ultimatum of yours will work - they can pretty easily find someone else to replace you, especially now with plenty of time before next semester.

I don't want to sound too negative, it is worth a try, but perhaps work out what your bottom line is in case they aren't as reasonable as you'd like them to be.