We’ve discussed this as one possible option. The problem is, being fresh off the boat and not speaking Chinese, the only information regarding their rights and circumstances they have is what they’ve been told by their agent and Albert, much of which is outright lies. I’m in the process of educating both them and myself about their legal rights and options. Hence my inquiries here.
They claim, for example, to have been told by Albert that if they leave him they will be subject to A) huge fines (in the neighborhood of $NT100,000), B) deportation, and C) blacklisting, such that they will be prevented from working anywhere in Taiwan. In addition, Albert has apparently dropped veiled hints as to his connections with organized crime. I met with some of them just last night to let them know that A) is illegal, B) and C) are well out of Albert’s reach, and his organized crime hints are not likely to be more than empty bluster.
Fines: How is he going to legally enforce an illegal contract that no one has signed? Bullshit!
Deportation: He notifies the gov’t that they no longer work for him and a few weeks later the work/residency permits and ARC get cancelled. Visa runs are in order if they don’t have a new application in process by then.
Blacklisting: Been there. Take no notice. In fact, as I’m drunk and belligerent now, tell him to go fuck himself if he wants to go around threatening people with bullshit like this.
Happy Hour: Just got back. You want to spend four hours at Alleycat’s you gotta drink first. Heavily.
‘a glass’: DB, you know better.
‘Bury your dead’ is not laissez faire, it’s pragmatism. You’re talking to a guy who caused no small amount of disruption and some breakage at his first Taiwanese employer’s office. Give the guy all the hell you can muster when your situation is secure, as a matter of principle, with the support of everyone here. But I don’t think you’re going to achieve anything. Do it for fun, or self-respect, but not as a solution to your problems. The only real solution I see is to walk away.
Most of these teachers have already had to pay for one unscheduled visa run when Albert didn’t finish their paperwork on time. Because they haven’t been getting paid, they’ve had to borrow money just to meet living expenses. Most of them don’t have the money for yet another run.
I’ve already so advised them.
Probably explains why I’ve never been there.
Then we’ll have to fundamentally disagree on this one. You call it pragmatic, I call it short-sighted.
I spoke with Maggie tonight. She was very surprised to read Lee Kaiwen’s post. She said that the teachers have been paid and the accusations are groundless.
The teachers do not pay a fee and they don’t have to beg for money from Albert. The problem is that they arrive penniless (in one case one female teacher arrived with NT$2000 to her name) so Albert lends them money for an apartment, scooter, etc. This is deducted from their salary. One teacher had to borrow NT$160,000 which she took a year to pay off. The agent’s (i.e. Maggie’s) fee is deducted from the second and third months’ salary).
Maggie was aware of two female teachers who are unhappy working with Albert - but the reason was that they had found better jobs and wanted to break their year contract and change jobs. If a teacher does not complete a contract, then the agent is liable to pay compensation to the school.
Contrary to the first post, Maggie has met the teachers (picked them up from the airport) and some have stayed at her house. While on a trip to South Africa, she personally delivered a plane ticket (paid for by Albert) to a teacher in South Africa who couldn’t afford the airfare.
I’ve given Lee Kaiwen Maggie’s telephone number and hope he contacts her. As I said before, I have known Maggie for a long time (ten years to be exact!!), and she is a wonderful person.and one of the reasons I am still in Taiwan. She let me stay at her place (and store things there) even when I wasn’t working for her. If anyone has read “Formosan Odyssey”, you might like to know that I stayed at Maggie’s place while I wrote it. I wasn’t working for her, but I stayed there free of charge - she wouldn’t take a cent for rent or utilities. I could go on for pages with other examples. And I’m not her only reference; she has numerous letters from satisfied teachers who have come to Taiwan through her.
Maggie was always a very generous employer and I have seen her taken advantage of several times; for example lending money to broke teachers who disappeared soon after, but I have never seen her do anything underhand.
As some of you know, I’m writing a guide book for teachers (which will be out later this year) and I will be recommending Maggie as an honest agent.
My objective in this forum is neither to debate the veracity of the teachers’ claims – and I stress again that these are simply the claims as they’ve so far been presented to me
i have no idea of the veracity of the SA teachers claims in this thread…but a word of advice to newly arrived teachers esp. south africans who have more limited job opportunities…stay in the hostels people (or sleep on floors) till you get the cash in your hands. don’t borrow money to buy scooters, pay apartment deposits, buy furniture etc. etc.
EDIT: i’ve revised my original post since it’s been pointed out i was making generalisations about south african people…
I don’t know Albert, any of the teachers involved, or their problems. Actually, it’s none of my business. I am simply providing a character reference for Maggie. It’s not very nice to see a good friend criticized (and referred to as a “scumbag” as Durin’s Bane did in the second post).
Terror Firmer: So one South African does a dirty on you and you paint all others with the same brush? Cool. Life must be so easy in your tiny little mind.
Tigerman, unless I’m mistaken (and of course I never, ever am) the term “Saffer” is more akin to “septic” for you wrong-side-of-the-pond types – a bit derogatory perhaps, but in a strictly jocular, not nasty, way.
Maybe you’re thinking of “kaffir,” which is a pretty filthy word.
No Saffer is not derogatory. Same as Kiwi or Aussie.
However, it is not the expression I take issue with. It is the generalization.
Take for instance: The day I trust a Taiwanese is the day I shoot myself in the head.
The poster above who made the statement “The day I trust a Saffer is the day I shoot myself in the head” has had not one good thing to say about anything. All his posts have been negative. And this is the second time he has made disparaging remarks about South Africans.
To be honest, I wouldn’t care less if he said so and so, a South African, stole from me. But both remarks pointed out by Tigerman give the impression that South Africans are non-paying debtors. As a South African, not going about “wasting my money” and by most accounts trustworthy, I take exception to these remarks.
[quote=“Alleycat”]No Saffer is not derogatory. Same as Kiwi or Aussie.
However, it is not the expression I take issue with. It is the generalization.
Take for instance: The day I trust a Taiwanese is the day I shoot myself in the head.
The poster above who made the statement “The day I trust a Saffer is the day I shoot myself in the head” has had not one good thing to say about anything. All his posts have been negative. And this is the second time he has made disparaging remarks about South Africans.
To be honest, I wouldn’t care less if he said so and so, a South African, stole from me. But both remarks pointed out by Tigerman give the impression that South Africans are non-paying debtors. As a South African, not going about “wasting my money” and by most accounts trustworthy, I take exception to these remarks.[/quote]
And you, Alleycat, are the best rebuttal to idiotic generalizations re South Africans. Many of us know you and think very highly of you… and we know too that you are a South African. Thus, when we read a sweeping generalization such made by Terror Firmer, I know that he is full of shit.
[quote=“Alleycat”]No Saffer is not derogatory. Same as Kiwi or Aussie.
However, it is not the expression I take issue with. It is the generalization.
Take for instance: The day I trust a Taiwanese is the day I shoot myself in the head.
The poster above who made the statement “The day I trust a Saffer is the day I shoot myself in the head” has had not one good thing to say about anything. All his posts have been negative. And this is the second time he has made disparaging remarks about South Africans.
To be honest, I wouldn’t care less if he said so and so, a South African, stole from me. But both remarks pointed out by Tigerman give the impression that South Africans are non-paying debtors. As a South African, not going about “wasting my money” and by most accounts trustworthy, I take exception to these remarks.[/quote]
What are you on? I’ve said good things about Romero, the Tetsuo films and many, many other things.
I’ve had a lot of experience with Saffers, both abroad and in South Africa. Yes, that’s right, I’ve been to your precious “rainbow nation”, and what a rainbow it is, tainted, tarnished and falling apart. You’re like all the other Saffers that I’ve met, Alleycat, you seem to be very defensive about any criticism of your country and it’s people, and have this “everyone picks on us” attitude. There’s a reason why a lot of people don’t like Saffers; spend some time behind your oven and try and work out why.
As an American from the US (we are from time to time maligned) I can appreciate Alleycat’s feelings. Terror Firmer, you certainly are entlted to your opinion re South Africans. And you are even entitled to state the same here, so long as you do so in an appropriate manner.
I think Alleycat is upset because when you generalize, as you have done, you tar everyone of the class you generalize with the same brush. I think you can understand why that is unfair. You haven’t met ALL South Africans, and thus you cannot know that All SAs are as you generalize them. I know several SAs, here in Taiwan and also in SA. None of the SAs that I know are as you have described them. I don’t doubt, however, that some are that way. But, as not all are that way, it is stupid and or lazy to generalize about them (or any other group of people).
hmm…can i distance myself completely from this thread as it’s obviously turning rancorous…my original comment was based on personal observation of newly arrived south africans in taiwan but doesn’t mean i have anything against them as a race…and allen i have absolutely nothing against (fine restaurant by the way)…terror firmer obviously has a whole other agenda…
