I thought I would start a thread about how to get back at a school that has screwed foreign teachers. I want to discuss legal ways . Which departments in the Government to call for each situation…or whatever else!
You know the schools I’m talking about. Maybe they are involved in the following:
*don’t provide Labour Insurance :fume:
*don’t provide Health Insurance :fume:
*cheating on their taxes :fume:
*have illegal kindergarten classes :fume:
*deposits :fume:
I know that Tealit has an article on deposits. I am curios if anyone here has had any luck getting back at a school in different ways. I stress legally. Everyone already knows how to throw eggs!
What did you do? Who did you call? How to make that school poo in their pants!
Another question to ask might be: If you know the school is illegal, and it seems like you would, why work there in the first place?
Furthermore, if you know they are illegal yet you still choose to work there, why in the world would you be surprised when they pulled something over on you?
As for making the school poo in their pants, I would think the outcome of a successfully reported school affects many more people than just the owners or supervisors: students, parents, teachers, cleaning people, biang dang places; all can be greatly inconvenienced because of a vengeful past employee. Is that what you want? To put all these people out of work or make parents scramble around trying to find a new/good/safe place for their kids to go?
My advice: Work for legal schools. Post the name of the school in question in the proper forum as a warning to other potential FT.
[quote=“jdsmith”]Another question to ask might be: If you know the school is illegal, and it seems like you would, why work there in the first place?
Furthermore, if you know they are illegal yet you still choose to work there, why in the world would you be surprised when they pulled something over on you?
As for making the school poo in their pants, I would think the outcome of a successfully reported school affects many more people than just the owners or supervisors: students, parents, teachers, cleaning people, biang dang places; all can be greatly inconvenienced because of a vengeful past employee. Is that what you want? To put all these people out of work or make parents scramble around trying to find a new/good/safe place for their kids to go?
My advice: Work for legal schools. Post the name of the school in question in the proper forum as a warning to other potential FT.[/quote]
I wouldn’t feel bad putting these people out of work (or making them lose money) because they put me out of work and made me lose a lot of money. These schools needto learn to not mess with us. Us FTs need to stay informed and have to be able to use the law as tool fight for our rights!
About the school being connected, who knows?!
What I really want is the notice I should have been paid. They don’t want to pay it though. :loco:
you might do yourself a favor to ‘let it go’. If you ‘get back’ at the school even thru legal means, they might ‘get back’ at you thru illegal means, and ruffling feathers around here may not be good for your health.
I’ve mentioned in other posts that one of the best views to take is to kiss your bond/deposit/notice goodbye the DAY you start at a school - if you get it back it’s a bonus…there’s really no other way to look at it. If they haven’t paid already then the chances of them paying now are exponentially decreasing if you are no longer talking to them in a friendly manner.
If you go and make an extra special effort to get a school in trouble, that may or may not get your money back(most likely not), but will pour more fuel on schools vs FT relations in your area, which isn’t going to be good for you or anyone else - and the only achievement then will be a whole lot a negative crap, and increased stress levels for you.
Better to move on and learn from it. Both inwardly and outwardly.
I don’t think there’s a magic bullet sollution. I think first off, you should be pursuing them through legal channels for the severence pay. That was discussed in the other thread about your dismissal.
What can make schools sweat and poo their pants? Very little, I think. However, word of mouth will put the squeeze on schools to either change their practices or find it increasingly difficult to find staff. As I’m sure you’ve already been doing, tell people about it. We’re a small community, after all (even smaller out here in Taoyuan), and word gets around quickly. They won’t have to screw too many before they find it takes longer and longer to fill vacancies.
Then there is the web. I believe, after some debate, it was agreed that mentioning of company names would be allowed here in cases of legitimate grievances. Of course, your company, or anyone who knew you there, would also be free to offer rebuttal; that’s the only caution.
Finally, there are blacklist sites like buxiban.com where you can post comments about schools that may affect their rating on that site. Ie., schools on that site receive a star rating based on their positive to negative comments ratio. Schools with more legitimate negative comments than positive ones will receive low ratings. People who read that site will take notice of, or avoid, schools with numerous complaints against them.
Hope some of this is helpful and I hope your future employers treat you better.
[quote=“TS”]We’re a small community, after all (even smaller out here in Taoyuan), and word gets around quickly. They won’t have to screw too many before they find it takes longer and longer to fill vacancies.
[/quote]
Yeah, but you’re missing one vital bit of info. There are plenty of people out there having trouble finding a job so not everyone can afford to be choosey. The tide is turning.
Yes word does get around quickly. Schools also talk to each other, so a troublesome foreigner might have difficulty getting a job these days no matter who was in the wrong. The school obviously has it’s version of events also, so will pass on a version of that to other schools also, if reqd.
But I agree to pursue the severence issue thru legal means - that is different from ‘getting back’ at the school IMHO.
It seems here that you want all the smooth and none of the rough that goes with it. If you work illegally at an illegal school then you are taking a chance and if it goes tits up you just have to live with it.
Some of the things that you wrote as making you :fume: seem to be benifits to teachers too.
A lot of us make a good portion of our income from these classes. I can’t really see why a school having kindergarten classes would upset any foriegn teachers, unless they didn’t want to teach kindergarten (in which case they probably wouldn’t take the job).
In most cases that I know of, cheating with taxes benefits both the employer and the employee here. Surely you’re not suggesting that a school reporting your salary as lower is a bad thing for foriegn teachers.
We all know the deal with deposits. If you allow them to take a deposit, then you should be aware there is no guarantee you will get it back. You could always tell the school you won’t pay a deposit.
We have a sweet deal here. If you work for a illegal school that doesn’t treat foriegn teachers well, post on here exactly what happened and then other teachers will know to avoid that school.
*don’t provide Labour Insurance - probably get a fine. I say probably, but then you may get more than just the school into difficulties. Staff may owe more in premiums and have to pay it back.
*don’t provide Health Insurance - Same as above
*cheating on their taxes - Half the country would be in the poo on that one. They are smarter than that. Even the tax department officials know what goes on. Some they just let go because the little that they do pay is often a lot.*have illegal kindergarten classes - Again, not something that would go very far. They would maybe get a call warning them of an inspection and … well, you know the rest.*deposits - The CLA could help you with that. But, can you prove it?
I am not coming down on you. Heck, in my mind, I have been through all of these options myself and decided that my desire for revenge would not get me anywhere.
I remember at one stage my wife suggested reporting all the computers that had copied versions of windows and claiming the reward. She was only joking, but heck, a huge fine and the supervisor in jail wouldn’t be what we wanted.
You have to think about whether it would be worth all the pain that it could cause. If you fail, well, I’d suggest leaving in a hurry.
Want revenge. Go work for the competition. Become the best teacher there.
These things go in cycles. At times there are more teachers than jobs; at others schools will take anyone. I still see lots of work here in Taoyuan, at any rate.
I don’t agree that schools talk to each other (although our resident foreigner owner-operators may disagree). Competing companies have very little in the way of communication. Troublesome foreigners (and I’ve seen a few) run out of options here because they run out of companies to work for in an area. I’ve seen a few make the rounds.
I agree that moving on may be the best thing in the end for the OP, though. It’s unlikely he’s going to be able to have any kind of impact on them and attempting to do so may only hurt his interests in the end. Still, when youmeet people. you can tell them to avoid the place. I still believe word of mouth is powerful.
Basically I am trying to decide how far to take this. I have been listning to everyone…
I’ve had some great PMs with great advice. I’ve also had some great public advice.
I did have an ARC with that school. They never took depostis from me. I believe the reason I was let go was due to the fact that I was too high on the pay scale. I have moved to a different school (in a different city, so not direct competition). I am very happy at this new school.
I have also cooled down quite a bit since all this happened. I thought it would be fun/informative to have a thread like this. I can’t believe I am saving face here! Not my style!
I was unemplyed for 5 weeks. No income. That was difficult.
The school hired a new teacher and apprantly he was shite. He lost 12 students for the school. So, in a way they are paying, just not to me.
The beliefs of “let it go” and “it’s just isn’t worth it” is a strong part of the reason why english teacher’s position in Taiwan are treated with such low regard. When I read such statements, I continually see the power that is given to the TW when it comes to dealing with our livelyhood. I think we need to wake up and realize that this is multimillion dollar industry that the TW are making their comfortable livelyhoods from. The more we sit in this victim mentality the more we are allowing these practices to go on. What’s it gonna take for people to realize how much of an impact and influence we have on this industry?
Namahottie, you provide a compelling diagnosis of the problems we face. I agree with alot of what you say. I’d love to see what you’d advocate doing to solve these problems.
yeah fine, but this is Taiwan. The industry is largely illegal in several aspects so to be able to ‘stand up’ will really require stricter legalization of the industry first.
Many of the teachers I talk to are mutually benefiting from the status quo of illegal situations, so there is a supply and demand thing going on - the down side, is the lack of support when it all turns to shit.
I think it’s hilarious how illegal schools offer illegal jobs but then get the teachers to sign a contract with them…HELLO. Put WTF you like in the contract, it doesn’t mean diddly under those circumstances.
The ball is on the ROC govt’s court to tighten up, not the teachers. Then the teachers can/will have to all go legal and have better protection etc.
I prefer the success is the best revenge model. Go across the street and work for their competition. Tell the new boss exactly why you left the old place/or were fired, in the hope that it won’t happen again.
ONE WORD= U-N-I-O-N-I-Z-E (and use PUblic Enemy’s “can’t fight the power” as a theme song )[/quote]
Unions suck anyway:
If you’re average, you get average pay.
If you suck, you get average pay.
If you are damn good, you get average pay.
result = why bother being damn good or even average, when your buddy sucks and gets the same as you?
The best way to get paid well and keep your job: Make your Boss lots of money. Bosses don’t like unions and if you’re in one, your boss can’t pay you what you’re worth.