Job Discussion Forums

[mdovell]

I realize this is a stretch but I'm not saying now but what would some here foresee say 15-30 years down the line?

I've seen ads that are going beyond simply teaching english but maths and sciences. With this mind how far is it going to go before something like this is started?

[china-1994]

That's a very good question. A few times I tried to browse around and see what stats I could find on general ESL -I couldn't find much of anything, though there were lots of ads and promos.

I was working with the hypothesis that ESL jobs were acting as a safety valve for lost jobs due to globalization.At that time, there were so many young degreed Canadians working abroad,and for years on end. How many of them were omitted from Stats Canada job information ? The same could hold true for Aussies,Kiwis etc.

One problem is that being an ESL teacher can act as a door opener to being a student ,gainfully employed, entrepreneur, semi-retired,adventurer, or seeking a mate or family heritage. Of all these various motivations, which ones can be isolated to show a connection to globalization's effect on the Canadian job.
The sparse information that I happened upon was vague.

Unions ?
I know in Canada unions have failed in part due to NAFTA,and then other trading treaties. One point that comes to mind, is the problem of jurisdiction.China Inc. is against unions,as it takes somewhat away from centralization,eh ?
Anyhow, nice topic.
WW

[ttorriel]

Simply put, no.

[gene]

From the appearance of most FTs, incl. myself, maybe Martinizing before Unionizing .

[Mister Al]

There is no freedom of association here for anyone. FT's would need to get permission to form a union type organisation. Does anyone here think that the CCP would ever grant that?

[gene]

Do you think anyone would join or work together on Union issues if they did. Unions are based around skills or industry placement, neither do FTs possess, other than as a marketing tool (for most business applications in China) or being from an English speaking country. Perhaps with some kind of accreditation, FTs could be folded into a group with the Chinese teachers but as issues are at the end of a different concern spectrum it mostly would seem to be ineffectual in achieving a unionized goal. .

[Qaaolchoura]

Are you sure you'd want to?
I met somebody who taught in Georgia, where all foreign teachers must belong to this one union. From what he said, it was a very expensive cartel that aimed at keeping wages high by making it hard to hire foreigners. You had to know somebody in the union to be allowed to teach there. Maybe he just had a bad experience, but based on the absence of job postings in Georgia, and the behavior of unions in the United States, I can believe it.

[mdovell]

I'm not saying I'm prounion by any means. However, sometimes it is possible to see things down the road. Maslows hierarchy will ultimatly create more wants than needs.

I remember when I was there a businessman told me in 1980 what most chinese wanted was a bike, a watch and a radio...well now that's maybe a education, a job and a place to...give it another 30 years and it might be tenure, a life insurance policy and a house.

30 years ago how did pudong district look ? I'm just saying is down the line..more like a what if..

[El Macho]

The CCP controls all unions. If there were to be a FT union, it would be nothing like those in the west.

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

[kukiv]

For starters change the concept of union to one of association - then you have a chance.
Associations don't have to have any legal roots - they are just a body of like-minded pros who have a common interest.
Through association you may be able to do a little something to tackle the big problem for China EFL teachers -the influence of the short-term teacher - the backpacker, the retired holiday teacher to name two variants. They are often persuaded to take the worst conditions and pay - and for a variety of reasons they sometimes prefer to see an awful time through without complaining and thinking about the teachers that will follow.
An association could at least pool their resources and try to get more material out to relevant media warning folk about the pitfalls of teaching in China - and try stem a little of the tide - an act that ] at least could be seen as symbolic if in real terms the job to change this work environment is pretty much a hopeless task.
In short trying make EFL in China into more of a profession rather than a holiday job!!!!!

[The Ever-changing Cleric]

that's a good idea. an "association" sounds better than a "union." and can achieve many of the same things. this is something worth thinking about.