Job Discussion Forums

Jerome Baxter · Joined: 27 May 2014 Posts: 58

It'd be awesome to have some Dave's posters involved in this....

As part of a developing project, the Angry Language Brigade is requesting submissions about the experiences of unpaid labour by language teaching workers.

Continued here: http://libcom.org/blog/callout-submissions-unpaid-labour-language-teaching-industry-17062014

LongShiKong · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 1082 Location: China

fat_chris · Joined: 10 Sep 2003 Posts: 3198 Location: Beijing

suphanburi · Joined: 20 Mar 2014 Posts: 916

LongShiKong · Joined: 28 May 2007 Posts: 1082 Location: China

Daveric · Joined: 03 Jan 2014 Posts: 37

suphanburi · Joined: 20 Mar 2014 Posts: 916

Jerome Baxter · Joined: 27 May 2014 Posts: 58

Suph, I think that's a bit of a strange attitude, to be honest.

TEFL is highly, highly profitable industry. Yet, very few teachers make enough to survive on long-term and employment (especially in English speaking countries) is increasingly precarious. Employers exploit the fact that it's a mostly young workforce, often working for beer and travel money.

And part of that exploitation is excessive unpaid prep, unpaid meetings, unpaid social events, etc. That things needs to be challenged and challenges are far more effective when done collectively.

It's all well and good to say it's on YOU to walk away or renegotiate a contract, but life isn't that simple. You could be in a foreign country, not speaking the language, reliant on your employer for working papers. Or you could have to pay rent in a city with a tight job market where walking away isn't such a simple option.

Again, here, sticking together as language teaching workers is going to be key to getting better pay and conditions. And that's what the project linked to in the OP is about.

suphanburi · Joined: 20 Mar 2014 Posts: 916

johnslat · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 12:42 pm Post subject:

Dear suphanburi,

Jerome Baxter: " . . . . walking away isn't such a simple option."

suphanburi: "Yes, it really is that simple."

Not in a country such as Saudi Arabia, where one needs an exit visa, which can be gotten only by one's employer (and where knocking on doors in-country to find another job isn't an option).

Regards,
John

spiral78 · Joined: 05 Apr 2004 Posts: 11534 Location: On a Short Leash

Jerome Baxter · Joined: 27 May 2014 Posts: 58

Spiral, well, sure, you've got to start somewhere.

For me, it always starts with your immediate co-workers. However, there's a real value in sharing stories - showing that regardless of continents, there is an overlap in the problems we face and thinking about ways, on the ground, that we can fight back.

In fact, if you look at that link from the OP, that's part of the goal of the project: looking at successful strategies and examples of how TEFL workers fought back against unpaid work.

Suph, I know it's a fairly hackneyed example, but let's take a look at the sweatshop conditions that were once standard in the UK and the US in the textile industry - 16 hours a day, and starvation wages.

What do you think would have happened if the only response of workers had been to leave and look for a better job? Sure you might have found something marginally better, but we don't change conditions across an industry through small acts like that. It was only when workers got together and began demanding changes from their employers and across the industry that conditions changed on a mass scale.

Look, I'm not opposed to people individually fighting for better contracts and leaving shoddy language schools. But I want a living wage and decent conditions for all TEFL workers. We won't accomplish that through acting individually.

MuscatGary · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 2:08 pm Post subject:

Jerome Baxter · Joined: 27 May 2014 Posts: 58

Well, to be fair, that took well over a century to happen. And in the intervening time, textile work was a good living wage job with union benefits.

And it's not like modern textile workers haven't continued to struggle against sweatshop conditions. The working class in Bangladesh is probably the most strike-prone in the world and the majority of them are textile workers.

In the case of TEFL, what economists refers to as a "spacial fix" is actually less feasible - after all, people need to learn English at accessible distances in the cities where they live.

MuscatGary · Posted: Mon Jun 30, 2014 3:08 pm Post subject:

Yes, the 'product' in this case needs to be delivered close to the end-consumer but the quick fix that I've seen happening at a massive rate this year (in Oman) is for language course deliverers, state and private, to cut wages, reduce the benefits and employ more and more teachers from the Indian sub-continent, the Phillipines and various African and Arabic countries instead of native-speakers. Trust me there's no shortage of Indian English teachers willing to work for a fraction of the cost of a Westerner and without the long annual holidays etc.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a lifelong Trade Unionist (full-timer for a while) and support the ideals of collective action but the logistics of this are massive. There are also problems because the industry atttracts a lot of mavericks who are unlikely to show much solidarity and many come from countries where trade unionism is regarded with suspicion.