Job Discussion Forums

[toteach]

Here's a recent University job listing that offers to pay 9 months of a 12 month contract. Is this common in University gigs now?


BENEFITS PACKAGE
� A monthly salary of 5600RMB for 20 class hours (45 minutes each) per week.
� On a full year contract(1 semester probation period), work for 8 months, get paid for 9.
� Paid public holidays (including the Mid-autumn festival, China's National Day and the May Day holiday) when applicable.
� 1100 RMB travel allowance per semester
� Airfare reimbursement up to 5000RMB per semester.
� Free Spring and Fall outing for sightseeing
� A temporary residence permit in China.
� Health insurance.
� Help on arrival: free airport pickup, student interpreter.
� A rent-free, fully furnished, single bedroom apartment with western bathroom. Cooking and eating utensils supplied. Refrigerator, gas stove, microwave, washing machine, and Internet access included. Gas and water free. Reasonable electricity use is covered.
� Free Chinese lessons

[Non Sequitur]

Assuming you start on 1 Sept you should get 10 months pay. i.e. Sept to June.
If you are invited to sign on for a further academic year, then maybe July and/or and August could be paid as an incentive.
But as you are posting now you are either looking at starting now or after Spring Break.
Need more info to give an informed view in this case.
I believe some teachers with multiple years of service with the same employer get 11 or 12 months pay.

[Bud Powell]

A monthly salary of 5600RMB for 20 class hours (45 minutes each) per week. NO But you'll probably have only 18 hours.

On a full year contract(1 semester probation period), work for 8 months, get paid for 9.

Full year contract should be 12 months pay. Many pay only for ten months. Ask for 12 months. Makes sure that they don't try to ship you out to a hotel during the summer at your expense. That tenth month of salary might be withheld to pay for a hotel.


Paid public holidays (including the Mid-autumn festival, China's National Day and the May Day holiday) when applicable.

What about Spring Festival in February?

1100 RMB travel allowance per semester

Standard
Airfare reimbursement up to 5000RMB per semester.

No. Airfare paid coming and going. They may want someone who is already in China or Thailand.


Free Spring and Fall outing for sightseeing

That's a Saturday bus ride. Big Whoop.

A temporary residence permit in China.

Does it cover the entire contract period?


Health insurance. This means you have access to the school clinic if you have a cold. Big Whoop.

Help on arrival: free airport pickup, student interpreter.

Standard.

A rent-free, fully furnished, single bedroom apartment with western bathroom. Cooking and eating utensils supplied. Refrigerator, gas stove, microwave, washing machine, and Internet access included. Gas and water free. Reasonable electricity use is covered.


Standard university accommodations. Make sure there will be no roommate. You'll get the first bottle of gas for free. It'll be what the previous FT didn't use. After that, YOU pay.

Will there be a table for eating and an upholstered chair? TV? Computer? You should bring your own because university computers are cr@p, but with decent speakers, a university computer serves as a good CD player.

b]
Free Chinese lessons[/b]

Could be fun and useful

Ask if you will have to travel to another campus to teach. This is very common. Older universities are moving to the outskirts of town because the real estate in the center of the city is too valuable to use as a university.

Is the university already out in the boonies? That's not much fun.

[Bud Powell]

[quote="Bud Powell"]A monthly salary of 5600RMB for 20 class hours (45 minutes each) per week. NO But you'll probably have only 18 hours.

On a full year contract(1 semester probation period), work for 8 months, get paid for 9.

Full year contract should be 12 months pay. Many pay only for ten months. Ask for 12 months. Makes sure that they don't try to ship you out to a hotel during the summer at your expense. That tenth month of salary might be withheld to pay for a hotel.


Paid public holidays (including the Mid-autumn festival, China's National Day and the May Day holiday) when applicable. What about Spring Festival in February? No pay? That's a whole month! the contract says nine months, but make sure that it spells it out.

1100 RMB travel allowance per semester Standard

Airfare reimbursement up to 5000RMB per semester. No. Airfare paid coming and going. They may want someone who is already in China or Thailand. 5,000 won't get you to the western hemisphere.


Free Spring and Fall outing for sightseeing That's a Saturday bus ride. Big Whoop.

A temporary residence permit in China. Does it cover the entire contract period? Have them spell it out.


Health insurance. This means you have access to the school clinic if you have a cold. Big Whoop.

Help on arrival: free airport pickup, student interpreter. Standard.

A rent-free, fully furnished, single bedroom apartment with western bathroom. Cooking and eating utensils supplied. Refrigerator, gas stove, microwave, washing machine, and Internet access included. Gas and water free. Reasonable electricity use is covered.


Standard university accommodations. Make sure there will be no roommate. (It says single room, but there may be two beds. You'll get the first bottle of gas for free. It'll be what the previous FT didn't use. After that, YOU pay. BTDT

Will there be a table for eating and an upholstered chair? TV? Computer? You should bring your own because university computers are cr@p, but with decent speakers, a university computer serves as a good CD player.

b]
Free Chinese lessons[/b]

Could be fun and useful

Ask if you will have to travel to another campus to teach. This is very common. Older universities are moving to the outskirts of town because the real estate in the center of the city is too valuable to use as a university.

Is the university already out in the boonies? That's not much fun.

How about water delivery?

[toteach]

Thanks for the responses. I'm not interested in this job, just trying to maintain an understanding of job offers. It it's new to me to hear of being paid only 9 months for a 12 month contract...

[Bud Powell]

Oh, okay. I get it. Count me out of commenting on your next contract.

[roadwalker]

I've seen a few offers advertised where the Spring Festival / semester break is paid nominally, so perhaps that is where the "paid 9 months" part of it comes from. For example, perhaps they pay half salary for January and February, but it's not clear. It's certainly worth asking what they mean by it, since a standard school year covers ten months. The hours are high, but perhaps Bud is right and the teacher will end up with fewer. If it's in the contract, though, it could be a busy term/year. The airfare max (10K) is higher than I've seen in other university contracts recently, but not enough to cover the shortcoming of that missing month's salary, and maybe not enough to cover the actual expense.

If the location, or other factors involved are attractive enough, it's certainly worth checking to see if they would budge on the terms that need budging. It couldn't hurt to ask. Of course if they get teachers to work under the stated terms (and they should at least get credit for putting them in the advertisement), then they likely won't accommodate most teachers' request for better financial or working hour terms. Let's throw in the usual solid advice of asking to be put into contact with current and former teachers to get a better picture of the place and the job.

edited for clarity

[Non Sequitur]

Yeah the 10K travel seems to be eroding over recent times.
Anyone being offered less than 8K?
I live off the beaten track for air routes and I've never gotten off with less than 10K for a round trip.

[Non Sequitur]

[bestteacher2012]

[Scrabble King]

Bud Powell is correct but if you signed that contract you are fu*cked friend. I think maybe you should look at this here which is an email I received yesterday. No matter how much you get screwed over, if you agreed to it and signed the contract, YOU WAIVED YOUR RIGHTS. So know you have to live with your mistake and make sure to avoid it on your next contract.



“Dear teaching colleagues and fellow expats,

Did you know that you have 15 employee rights as an expat employee in China? If not, then you probably signed an illegal contract that forfeits 30%-40% of your wages/salary. This is not a joke. 70% of us were never told about these rights that kicked in late 2012 when President Xi Jinping ordered that foreigners stop being exploited. Recruiters and China employers do not want us to know about these rights. Why? This link will explain it better than we can (see the third post in the thread):

http://www.shanghaiexpat.com/phpbbforum/china-s-silent-scam-steals-40-of-foreign-teacher-salaries-t181524.html?sid=8b7673d92c19a07a8178ed1cbcc805de

The very same thing is happening to thousands of China foreign teachers. If you sign an illegal contract you are implicitly waiving your employee rights. The solution for you must wait until you renew your contract. BUT, you can help us warn others by emailing this message to 10 of your teaching colleagues, and ask them to do the same. If you do nothing, you will continue to forfeit 30% – 40% of your total wages. But, these rights only apply to expats working with a Z visa. If you are working on an L, F, M, or X visa (even part time tutoring) you have no rights and are subject to arrest and deportation as an illegal alien. More information can be found about your employee rights at http://chinascamwatch.org. Best wishes for the New Year!

Taylor, Frank & Johnny

China Scam Watch”