Job Discussion Forums

[englishgibson]

As I am searching for that ultimate spicy contractual agreement to feed on for the next year, I have stumbled over a few really tasty ones.

45 yuan for an overtime classroom hour (45-50 minutes) with a monthly salary at 6500 (plus 800 housing) is a bit hard to digest. The center's HR tried to justify that OT rate with some kinda saying that the 6500 includes the food, and transportation allowance too. And the young woman was not shy to tell me that their OT rate is according to the Chinese labor law. How could that be? Well, is my food and transportation allowance at 4000 yuan?

What have you experienced recently, when searching for that graceful job position in the country with so sound labor laws?

Cheers and beers to my indigestion

[eddy-cool]

One of my previous jobs came with a clause in the contract that I regard highly 'appetizing':

'Breakfast and lunch are free from Monday to Friday but if Party B wish to eat pizza he must pay for it hisself.'

[Robin53]

Interesting that this topic should be here. I approached my waiban yesterday with the suggestion that we work on revising and re-writing the contract used at my university which is a real doozy, as they say in Australia. She thought it was a good idea, and was something her office had also been thinking about for some time. I suggested we have a few meetings and take our time, and try and come up with a document which would be good for both the university and for future FTs. Some basic ideas I have already are:

1. It should be simple, short, and clearly expressed.
2. It should be an exact translation in Chinese/English.
3. Reasons for dismissal on the grounds of either unprofessional behaviour, incompetent teaching, or illness should be outlined, and a process described.
4. The airfare money should be used as a bonus, with half payable after 1 semester, and the other half at the end of the contract.
5. No conflict between what is civil law in China then being reintroduced into the contract.
6. Something which would be acceptable in a Chinese court if it came to a legal dispute between either party.
7. A period of paid sick leave eg one month.
8. An option for realistic medical insurance.
9. An option for off-campus living.
10. No conflict between what is stated in the SAFEA contract, and the university one.

Looking forward to reading any other ideas anyone has.

[englishgibson]

[Robin53]

Hello English - good to be in touch again on this topic after our discussions several months ago about GAC/ACT teaching.

I'm sorry to divert your topic about horrible contracts away into something more positive like negotiating to change them. So many posts and topics here are complaints about existing conditions for FT's, about "them and us" situations, or criticising schools and administration. There is another side of the coin, and that is to get into the boat with them and work together. That's what I want to to do with revising the contract at my university which will be for the good of the university and for future FT's. I've done this before about 3 years ago at a college I was at. We turned a dinosaur of a contract into a one page document which got me better conditions and more money, as well as benefits for the college.

To reply to your points above: First, sick leave - I want this to be one of the reasons for the university to terminate a teacher, for example a 30 day period unable to teach because of serious illness. In such a situation I want to negotiate full pay and the airfare. This is a rare occurrence, but covers the teacher and the university. In our countries, 21 days per year of sick-leave on full pay is fairly normal, with a doctor's certificate needed for more than 1 day off.

Second, medical insurance. Most school contracts here have a silly little insurance for all teachers up to about 1000 Yuan a year for minor trips to the hospital. A good medical insurance can be got for say 200 or 300 a month which would cover something like a broken leg or other serious illness involving expensive hospital costs. I think the FT should pay this, but that the school should help in finding a good insurance scheme. I also think it should be an optional choice in the contract if the FT wants to take the risk of going without a good medical insurance.

Third, conflict between the SAFEA contract and the school one. Any such conflict in the school contract should be removed for legal reasons. I'm not a lawyer, but think if it came to a court case that a judge would throw something out where the SAFEA contract stated one thing, and the school contract stated the opposite, or seriously ammended what was in the SAFEA contract.. After all, the school contract is usually an appendix of the SAFEA contract.

I'm looking forward to hearing about any other good ideas FT's think should be included in a school contract.

[englishgibson]

a coin sure has two sides and trying to work together with them is a step to the success here. unis might be slighly different from private centers however. getting on the same boat with a private owner of a center that knows little about what he/she has the license for is a bit though. and, the amount of control the owners want to have is unprecedented. yes, the private centers want to control their assets or investments more than the unis since many unis are subsidized by governments. so, i'd say it depends what "coin" you're holding.

medical insurance and sick leave are real issues in our contracts and they vary from place to place sooo much. to make things worse laws/regulations help little.

SAFEA seems to be a joke as it has little in its clauses that make a real sense there. and, an employers' contract vs the SAFEA is one hellish load of contradictions that we have lil power to change.

cheers and beers to trying that i've been doing for a while