Job Discussion Forums

[cmknight]

About a month ago I posted this in the thread about "Changchun Tai yuan or Xiang fan":

Changchun's ok, it has a Walmart, Carrefour and a fairly good Light Rail Transit system, but stay the hell away from Changchun University. The uni guards are thugs. There's another FT here with me, a British fellow. On Oct 10th, we had stepped out for dinner and a couple (2) beers. We came back and the guards weren't going to let us in. We told them we lived and worked there, and tried to walk past them. Three of them jumped on me and proceeded to kick the crap out of me, knocking me down and punching and kicking my head and neck. Their excuse later was that the university was closed due to H1N1 (which was a total load of BS because the gates were open and people were going in and out). I phoned my "handler" and had him talk to the supervisor. The supervisor initially refused to talk to him. While they were talking, the guards, when I tried to pick up my bag with my textbooks and lessons in it, jumped on me again.

They have since apologized, but all of the apologies were scripted, and exactly the same, and the uni has agreed to give us the breach penalty. We "discuss" the amount next week. The guards have been "relocated to other campuses" and "criticized", but they get to keep their jobs (unfortunately).

The only good part of this whole thing is that we'll probably be the first FT's to ever collect on the breach penalty!



I can now report a successful battle!! Over the past two weeks I have been in meeting after meeting with the uni. Sticking to your guns pays off. They finally awarded me a breach penalty payment. Mind you it was the minimum three times the salary, but at least they know that they can't just draw things out, hoping that the FT will finally give up.

Their biggest argument was that the safety of the FT isn't written in the SAFEA contract, therefore they didn't have to award me any compensation whatsoever. I got so PO'd that I phoned my wife (who is Chinese) and told her to contact the TV and radio stations, the major newspapers, AND the Education Bureau in Beijing. This was all on speaker-phone so the entire office could hear that I was actually talking to my wife and not making a dead-air call. When I told her what they said about an FT's safety not being part of the contract she tore them all a new "you know what" for about five minutes. After that it was so quiet, you could have heard a maggot fart. That's when they said, very quietly, that they would give me the minimum three times the salary. They drew up the papers in English and Chinese, everybody signed them, the FAO put his chop on it, and the matter got settled. I have my copy in a nice safe place ... just in case.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

glad to hear it (the resolution part, not the beating part).

you do have the cash in hand now and are on your way to new employment i hope.

[cmknight]

The final offer and agreement was after the accounting office closed. I expect that they will be giving me the cash early next week. I've only got a couple more months left here. I'll stick it out so I can get my airline ticket. That way my wife and I can still have our vacation without having to dip into it too much.

After my wife ripped into them and threatened to expose what happened (all in Chinese, which I don't speak very much of), they were very apologetic and seemed sincere.

I was dealing with the FAO who didn't want to have to tell the uni presidents what happened. He tried to deal with things in his own way and keep everything within the department. At least that's the feeling I got from all of this.

The guards are hired directly from the university, whereas we were dealing with the FAO of the Foreign Language College. The Head of security was at every meeting and has assured us that it will never ever happen again. I'm ex-Canadian military and he's ex-Chinese military, so there is a commonality there. In peacetime, all soldiers, both enlisted and retired, look at themselves as members of a family, and as far as he's concerned, the guards went too far.

I can sort of see both sides of the coin here. I am looking at things contractually, while the FAO is trying to pay out as little money as he can get away with. I'm just happy we were able to force them to live up to their contractual obligations.

Of course ... I have been accused of having a bigger heart than a brain.

I'm just glad everything worked out in the end. A lot of people are not as fortunate.

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

Good luck.

[YAMARI]

I think a simple bribe like a pack of smokes would have saved you a beating. But heh if you like being beat up for cash keep up the good work.

[cmknight]

[cmknight]

[alter ego]

Fricking unbelievable!

The guards around my Poly once stopped my wife and I from entering the campus late at night. We were polite, nodded and listened, and I told him I was an English teacher in Chinese. We stood and waited while he sized us up, and then he waved us through. I didn't argue with him. I gave him a little respect, let him be the boss, the man in charge, etc.

One gets the sense, at least in the big bustling city where I live and work, that violence is bubbling just beneath the surface of a few mean-looking Chinese men who sometimes stare and squint at me with angry, unsympathetic eyes. I can sometimes smell alcohol on their breath.

Best to watch your six's here at all times, just in case. And another argument to stay cool and calm in all situations, to be polite even when you know someone deserves a good tongue-lashing, as you never know when one of those underpaid workers might go postal with their fists and feet or even worse stick you with a concealed switchblade.

[wangdaning]

You could have got the guards fired. Call the police. Even now if you have evidence you can get them in. A co-worker of mine got a similar job done on him and the guard is no longer working here (or at least they have hidden him).

I hope you are ok and best of luck to you.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[TexasHighway]

cmknight wrote:

[samhouston]

A couple of half-wit "security" thugs stomping your head and neck? This is where you live? Holy Jesus. Good for you taking care of it the honorable way. But if that happened to me, I'd need more permanent closure to get on with life. I wouldn't be able to let it go. It would take me a while...

This ex-military thing, good grief. I was in the Marines, and the last people I have ever felt a common bond with is other ex-military peeps. Might be a Marine thing.

[cmknight]

No Sam, it's not just a Marine thing. Soldiers are very special breed of people. It doesn't matter where you come from or which military you served with. In times of peace, we are all one big family, whether we are active personnel or retired, it doesn't matter.

At this time of year, with Nov. 11th approaching, I think we should all remember those of our countries who are serving, both at home and abroad. Both alive and gone.

Lest we forget.

CQ

[cmknight]

Wandaning,
We insisted that the police be called. The uni supposedly talked to the Foreign Affairs Office of Changchun and they even suggested calling the police, but the uni decided not to "to save face."

Yeah, I know I could have done it myself, but you know these situations. One side lies, the other side says guo pi and tells a different version, etc, etc. It would have been us against them. Who do you think the police would have sided with? Remember what you have always been told? "When in Rome ..."

[samhouston]