Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rue_Meridian]

Tell me what you think. Recently I got verbally punished by a director (not mine) for saying that I thought ESL teachers had pretty close to no democratic rights in Korea. I pointed out that Hakwon directors OWN our E2 visa's. To this he replied, "Korea is not a socialist country it's a democratic one. Hakwon owners do not own your visa's!" Ummm...o.k. But to prove a point I thought I would post this as a poll and see what foreigners believe.

Cheers


"Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what you think it is you want to hear." - - Alan Corenk

p.s. I you can think of an additional Poll Option let me know and I'll post it

[just because]

I've had 2 democratic sponsors since I've been here. Basically you know they are your sponsor but they have never been a bully about it and have always given me plenty of leeway to do how I want.

The problem becomes when the problems are not only at the school (everyone has them) but also when they start to invade your private life and space. That is when it becomes a dictatorship.

[crazylemongirl]

are you a korean citizen? No. therefore you don't have the same rights as them. you are a guest here and we have to abide by their rules just like you would if you were invited into my house. you are of course free to go if you don't like it.

[On the other hand]

[Real Reality]

A helpful bump.

[Kristsoy]

they expect us to treat them well when they come to canada especially when they are working at a company. They arent canadian citizens, but if they were treated like some teachers are treated, Koreans would be the first to complain to the government or the sponser.

If we compain, we get told to shut up or you're fired, if canadian companies did that to koreans they wouldnt be very happy and probably go to the human rights office. CLM is out of line with her post, totally rediculous


are you a korean citizen? No. therefore you don't have the same rights as them. you are a guest here and we have to abide by their rules just like you would if you were invited into my house. you are of course free to go if you don't like it.

[jazblanc77]

If you are talking about workplace equity / egality / fair treatment, that is one thing BUT I don't believe that has anything to do with democracy. Democracy is an aplication of government as far as I am concerned and we should have no right to that unless we are permanent residents (legally that is under your visa sponsourship).

I do however say that there is a deep need for labour laws concerning foreign teachers. Presently, we are not even included in the labour code as hogwans are not legislated areas of labour in Korea. That's why we don't aythe taxes that public school teachers and university lecturers pay.

We are treated unfairly because the directors know that they can get away with murder. You can actually get out of a contract without a release letter and you can get money that is owed to you through legal structures set up here but it is pretty difficult to even fid out how to do that if you are Korean, let alone if you are a foreigner who speaks little or no Korean.... Good freakin luck.

What we need is to get organised... we need a hogwan foreigners labour union.

Anyone willin to become the leader of our labour revolution!

[TheUrbanMyth]

[crazylemongirl]

[phaedrus]

oops

[phaedrus]

[peemil]

No you don't have the same rights as a Korean. The fact of the matter is this. You never forget that you are not really a "Korean" and hence, are not allowed the same rights. For example, the right to work where you like, the right to form a union, the right to secure your own housing, to start a business, to be left be without an intrusive form of control.

The problem here is that Korean's come to our country. Set up camp and expect everything that we have.

If you utter a racial slur. *beep* you. I'm taking you to court.

"I can't start a shop." *beep* you. That's not fair.

"I can't rent a house." Racial discrimination. *beep* you. I'm taking you to court.

Jesus. I could go on. When will we all drop the ridiculous PC shit and just face that the people crawling under our fences and arriving on boats don't give us the same respect in their countries.

*beep* them.

[phaedrus]

I think we should take a look at the historical situations.

Only in the last thirty years did foreigners have 'rights' in Canada or America. In the sixties blacks in America were second class foreigners for God's sake.

In Korea in the sixties they were too busy dragging themselves out of the Third World to care.

Fortunately at least in Canada we had the benefit of creating the beginnings of our country with foreign labour. Chinese railroad labourers, Italian workers, Ukranians......

Even today in North America there is discrimination, whether overt or not. Somehow Korean shopkeepers are still a bit of a joke on Leno. One night they were in a shopping mall and went into a Korean shop for some kind of cross cultural comic relief. I feel that Leno represents the standard although not desired thought of the average North American.

If my wife wants to go to Canada and be a resident there is a stack of paper work and I must promise to sponsor her for three years. The cost to file is around $1000. If she wants to be a citizen she must learn English or French to pass a test. If I don't sponsor her the only way for her to get to Canada would be if she had a skill that was missing from the Canada market.

Canada needs high tech skills and professionals. If a Korean has these skills and an employer they can come to Canada. If they don't, they can't, at least not easily.

Fortunately Koreans seem to be a bit more tolerant of non Korean speakers than Canadians and Americans are of non-English speakers. If someone says "Hello, me speaka EEnglishey" they are branded in NA.