Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dan The Chainsawman]

In principle a strike and a union sounds like a great idea. In principle that is, however, facing a real world situation in a country like Korea where the labor laws might be rather different, I would suspect a rather different outcome would be had.

In theory I would guess the reponse to, "More Won, or we're gone!" is most likely going to be, "We higher cheapie scabs subs from phillipines, you go now!"

Out of curiousity what are the relavent labor laws in Korea? Do they have unionized labor? I would think a great union would be for Korean teachers, they get the shaft more than we do.

[Saxiif]

Oh like that would ever get organized

Anyway, I like my job, why should I put it on the line? Especially when the ESL workers who really need help can/would be replaced so easily? (if North Americans got scarce, I'd assume that recruiters would advertise intensely in New Zealand to make up the differnce since for some surreal reason Kiwis seem to accept about 10% less pay than North Americans...)

In any case, the hagwon industry in Korea isn't a good place to make money long-term. Eventually enough Koreans will learn good enough English that your average hagwon jockey will become rarer and worse paid (kind of like in Western Europe these days, where apparently it used to be possible to make good money teaching English without any qualifications decades ago...). Korea will eventually become another backwater of the industry like, say, Poland and people will move on to the next big thing (ie China). The ESL industry in Korea (or at least the kind of industry that will hire masses of people right out of college and pay them decently) doesn't have the kind of long-term potential to make this kind of organized action really worthwhile...

[schwa]

[Homer]

[some waygug-in]

Sure there are still lots of uninformed newcomers & unscrupulous owners ready to exploit them, but as more jobseekers wise up to what constitute reasonable standards, conditions will gradually improve. Its the people that dont do any research before signing contracts that enables the crap jobs to flourish.

How many times do we read queries along the lines of: "I just signed a contract with such&such school, anyone heard of them?" Or "I'm arriving in Sometown next week, whats it like?" Dave's is a great heads-up but a good number still come to Korea & leave without any inkling there are sources of collective knowledge & advice. [quote: Schwa]

I used to think so too. But the influx of newbies seems never ending. As long as they keep coming here, clueless and dazed, nothing will change. Even people who have been here a while get stuck in a bad job now and again. It happened to me after being here 2 years and the guy before me ........ who was here 6+ years.

Sometimes a good place can turn bad, a new boss or some other thing can change, like another hagwan opens across the street and suddenly there aren't enough students.

Doing your homework helps, but haggies are still a crapshoot......... especially the small ones.

[cellphone]

Thinking. You're all thinking too much!
"It'll never get started." "How much dues will we have to pay?"

Dues? You're in Korea. That's paying your dues. There are no other dues.

Simple, it would be organized as a nationwide announcement to all foreigners. Perhaps 2 or 3 main guys would be in charge and could be the primary organizers. All very simple, a simple website is set up. Emails privately given. Newsletters by email sent out.

A target week is selected. This is a "natural" union, existing simply because we do. Forget that "meet in Busan on the 20th" crap. You're jumping way ahead of yourselves, getting too negative and pessimistic.

A week is set. It's announced that all foreigners will be participating in a basic strike. Perhaps those foreigners that "LOVE THEIR SWEET AND AWESOME HAKGWON JOBS" could take off half days. Most would stay away most or all of the week.

It's all very simple as that. By the way, don't you just love those guys that come on and say "what's there to strike about, Korea is great." The guys that really love Mr. Kim could instead only strike a few hours each day, under the "disguise" that they have to participate with their brethren, as Koreans naturally understand peer pressure and group work.

And a strike would not be about higher wages. It would be playing to Korea the way Korea plays -- showing our strength in numbers. It would be a strike for better treatment, more respect. Plain and simple.

By the way stop asking question's "how much will the presidents make" bla bla ... nothing! You do it because you volunteer, to make a better environment!

Now let me ask again ---> YES OR NO. Do you all realize that if 5000 white teachers announced that even a basic work strike will occur, that suddenly lots of Kims would be fretting? YES -- OR -- NO?

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Wishmaster]

The visa ownership thing would solve some problems and would clean up a lot of the crappy schools. However, you would then have foreign teachers leaving their schools for every reason imaginable("My friend has a washing machine in her apartment" or "Michael makes 50,000 won extra a month"). If the jobs were long-term gigs in which you had a chance of settling here, it would make sense. But the vast majority of these jobs are short-term and not worth the trouble. The status quo will remain here, as it always has. Nothing really changes...........

[Ya-ta Boy]

I don't see the value of a general strike. It punishes the good employers with the bad. Not a way to success, in my opinion.

However, a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Justice (on the weekend) focused on things like the E-2 situation could have an impact. Given the Korean sensitivity about face, it would be more productive if it were done in a constructive way, not an in-your-face complaining way.

During the last election there was talk of granting long-term foreign residents the right to vote in local elections, so there are Koreans who are open to the idea of reforms in rights for foreigners. All of my Korean friends were shocked to hear that we can't change jobs when conditions are bad (and they know conditions are often bad in hakwons). The only criticism I ever heard was that all governments need to 'control' foreigners. Of course that is true. Any changes would need to take legitimate needs into consideration.

[Eunoia]

[Ilsanman]

I won't strike for one, unles smy employer gives me a reason. I abide by my contract 100%. I demand he does the same.

If he violates the contract, I will do a personal strike in front of my school.