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[MESL]

Pay Problems at Jeddah Teachers College

Shortly before I arrived, the dean told all the professors, �Because you will use the offices, you have to contribute 1000 riyals toward construction of the new office building.

Shortly after I arrived, the community center informed us that they were changing the longstanding overtime rate. They waited until after we signed up for overtime to inform us of this change.

Shortly before I left, we were asked to sign a blank pay form for community center overtime. The excuse we were given was, �We lost the paperwork.� We refused. The dean said, �By not signing this form, you are saying you don�t trust us.� Of course, it was nothing personal against the dean, the community center director, or anyone else. It�s simply not wise to sign a blank pay form. I wouldn�t sign a blank pay for my best friend. (Actually, I had declined overtime that semester, so I spared having to make noise on this particular occasion. But I was one of the most vocal when they changed the overtime rate.) One of the new professors tried to explain, �I just got here. I don�t know you. How do am I supposed to know if I can trust you?� The dean was so incensed that he hired professors from the university to teach part time so he could deny overtime to the English professors.

Overtime for the last semester I was there was paid by check. Several checks had minor discreptencies. One had a missing signature, one had a misspelled name, one had a missing date, one had an incorrect date, etc. These were rejected by the bank. The usual method was cash. Was all this coincidence? Well, let�s suppose it wasn�t. The semester was over. Everyone was leaving in a few weeks. What are you going to do if your flight date comes, and you still don�t have your overtime pay?

Because I came mid year, the financial director withheld half my furniture allowance. The next semester came and went, and I didn�t receive the other half. I was told the money hadn�t come from Riyadh. When I moved into an unfurnished apartment, I requested an advance on the remainder of furniture allowance. The financial officer said, �The money is in the community center. I�ll talk to the community center director, and when he gives me the money, I�ll write a check and call you.� A few weeks went by. No check. To make a long story short, I finally got the money, but began to realize who I was dealing with.

One of our graduates went to another teachers college as a TA. He did management work for them. He also did overtime for them. At the end of the semester, the community center director told him, �Because you are a TA, we don�t have to pay you for management work or for overtime. It�s all part of your responsibility as a TA.� Never mind that he had a contract. He made noise. He got his overtime pay. He didn�t get his management pay.

When I was assigned to coordinate English Club, I started taking students to restaurants. The first thing they did was list their complaints about the school. We have to wear a uniform, we can�t smoke, we can�t change our schedule, we can�t find a place to park. This was not what I had in mind, but practicing English is practicing English. These issues didn�t affected me, but they affected the students. So I let them practice their English by complaining.

Then they started telling money stories. The first money story was about the King�s monthly stipend. They said about a fourth of their stipend was missing one month. They checked with other students in the English Department. They checked with students in other departments. Every student they talked to had the same experience. They asked the financial officer what happened to the money. He said, �The dean took it.� They said, �What did he do with it?� He said, �You�ll have to ask the dean.� Of course they were afraid to talk to the dean.

They also said their stipend started coming chronically late about the time construction on the new office building began. One of them had a relative who worked for one of the Saudi newspapers. Within hours after a story was printed about their problem, they received their stipend.

They told me another story. It involved a major case of corruption, a major member of the administration, and a lot of money. They named an insider source. They quoted the amount of money. But I can�t repeat the story, and I can�t tell you why.

Of course, after the complaints and the money stories, they practiced their English with many other subjects.

I need to add that experience is factored into you salary. X number of riyals for X number of years of experience. But only college experience counts in this formula.