A “perk” lol… he must be a good salesperson to make that pile of shit smell like a flower.
Of course he did. He probably just wanted you guys to replace him so he could get the hell out of there. When you apply to a bad school, sometimes the old teachers you’re replacing warn you and sometimes they think “better you than me” and sell it hard.
(I wasn’t serious about the Bryan Wu thing… he’s an infamous and prolific recruiter known for pushing horrible jobs on unsuspecting newbies)
Can we establish where you were located? Are you one of those poor South African couples who get sent to Yunlin?
That’s not really the reason. It’s just they don’t want to do business with foreigners, good ol fashioned discrimination.
I wouldn’t shed many tears for many of those horribly run buxibans. One whitey is just as good as the next and there is another planeload arriving daily for them to mistreat
It seems many schools are offering $400 to start now and sporadic hours. It’s really gone downhill. I’ve seen various ads for $400 to $500
You can’t include living costs in your take home pay. Your take home pay is pay after tax. From what you’ve written I would guess you’re both on 40k or so a month gross before 18% tax.
Dreadful pay, but probably worth sucking up for another 4 months. If its not possible to do that then see the Council of Labor Affairs.
Somebody mentioned Yunlin County. My money’s on that.
That looks good to me; it looks to me like a conscientious effort on your part.
I hope you and your partner get through this all right, and I wish you both the best. I also appreciate your posting your and your partner’s experiences. It adds some worthy brushstrokes to the board’s cram-school landscape.
This is all really nice, but I’d still contact the CLA.
The Council of Labor Affairs became the Ministry of Labor about five and a half years ago:
In any case, I think this is a local-government, rather than a national-government matter (I’m willing to be corrected on that, though):
I think the information in the 2010 quote immediately above will work fine if “Ministry of Labor” is substituted for “CLA.” But again, I’m pretty sure there’s a local agency for dealing with these kinds of matters (and again, I’m ready and willing to be corrected if wrong).
But thank you for your contribution, @BiggusDickus. 
I may be a tad out of date.
This is something along the lines of how I went nuclear in the dim and distant past:
"Dear xXxX,
As a foreigner I am not as aware of the employment laws in Taiwan as you are. However, I have been told that it is illegal to withold any of my salary. To confirm whether this is correct I shall contact the CLA* and FAP* on Monday if the money owed to me is not in my bank account."
Worked for me.
I think it’s good you mentioned it because the employer is not playing straight with them.
I do not oppose an employee’s contacting the appropriate government authorities in cases of illegal or unfair employment practices.
One could chuck in a reference to confusion about instructing English to very young learners and it’s usually a done deal.
I’m not sure if this has already been discussed, but many schools will not declare your actual income to the required agencies (Department of Labor, NHI, Tax). You may want to go to each office and inquire about what your boss is actually declaring so that you can compare it with what you are receiving. None of these agencies will initiate an investigation unless you request it so you can, as a few others have subtly suggested, tell your boss that you might be visiting the department of labor soon to ask some question. Your boss knows (if he’s not declaring your full income) that if they catch him, the fine can be pretty serious. That may motivate him to just cut his losses.
Just for future reference, if you decide to look for another job in Taiwan, ask around before accepting an offer. You should be making much more money than what you stated.
Just wait, If Taiwan ever becomes more accepting of who teaches their kids, there will be philipinos and Indians queuing up to teach for $200 an hour
Vaguely racist flex, but okay…
Also, they’re Filipinos. It’s spelled different than the country.
I don’t see how that’s racist. I think they’re willing to accept much lower pay because the opportunities in those countries are even poorer. If Taiwanese parents decide it’s on for them to teach their children English ‘we’ can’t compete
Taiwanese parents have had quite a while to choose, because people from India and the Philippines have always been able to teach English in Taiwan.
It’s a small country so for now I’ll decline to share our location. Perhaps once we’ve moved on if y’all want to take bets…
The previous employees we spoke with were fairly candid (though left out a few unsavory details), giving us the impression that they didn’t regard the school highly but got on well with the owners and enjoyed their time here. A ‘maybe it could be the right situation for someone’ attitude.
Before taxes, I think we hit 40k each for two paychecks, the majority have been in the 32k-36k range, with a few summer paychecks coming in under 30k. Our income is already so low I’m not sure there’s a lot of wiggle room to under report without raising eyebrows. I may go inquire just in case.
My boss is active in the local KMT and well connected politically, which makes me suspect he’s already greased the right palms to not worry about the legality of occasional kindergarten work/ kindy cram school. If need be, I wonder if an offer to helpfully update their recruiter’s misleading recruitment posts might be more effective. I’ve found a local foreign worker counseling center. I will go counsel with them on Monday and leave a report of their advice here for posterity.
Preaching to the choir here but
The parents all want a white face and will pay top dollar. Unfortunately that money never filters down to the teachers
At one particular chain school I know , they have been raising tuition rates like mad every 6 months but the teachers haven’t been given a raise in 10 years. They will also have you running all over town to chase a few crappy hours.
As long as they keep seeing a new planeload of new recruits coming everyday they can continue to gouge teachers. You don’t like the $400 hr and crappy times we give you? This guy here will take them with a smile.
More and more westerners are coming here to teach every year. Meanwhile, less and less Taiwanese babies are being born every year.
It’s the same trend that’s happening in South Korea and Japan, which has already seen implosions in the ESL industry as chain schools, language centers and uni programs shutter their doors.
That’s why so many western ESL teachers are putting down their stakes in places like Vietnam lately.