Not exactly race-based but sort of bordering on it, the Thai government has official minimum pay standards for different foreigners. Since English-teaching is one of the few jobs foreigners are allowed to have in Thailand, that’s the profession with the most publicity in this regard. But Americans, Brits, Aussies etc have the highest minimum. I don’t know the precise scale, but I believe Filipinos are below the white guys – and usually it is white Americans, Brits etc; I’ve known of schools who hired teachers sight unseen and then got rid of them the moment they showed up and turned out to be black – and Indians are below them, then maybe Africans after that.
Some schools are notorious for their all-Filipino faculties, because they can pay them less, and never mind that their English is often a little flowery. Technically it’s based on nationality, but they’re not really fooling anyone.
East Asian cultures are notoriously racist. They need all the lessons they can get in that regard. As for the job, English teaching gigs in China/Taiwan are a dime a dozen for a young, presentable American.
I’m almost afraid to ask what point you were trying to make.
A friend of mine here in Bangkok, a white American, visited Kaohsiung, Taiwan awhile back when he was in his 30s. Said he was approached on the street at one point by a young lady who happened to be a teacher at a nearby school. She asked him if he wanted a job as an English teacher. He said he looked over at the school, and there were all these little moon faces pressed against the window, all wondering if he was going to be their English teacher. (He regretfully declined.)
You never did respond to my comments in the Joseph Smith thread. You are welcome to go back anytime. Or, alternatively since I am calling your current and my former religion immoral, you could pit me.
Teaching gigs are a lot like working McDonalds, lots of movement. It was just one of my part time jobs so it’s no biggie.
I suspect it’s more personal rather than any genuine concern for my well being.
I do wish he would show up back on the polygamy thead. He called out another poster, asking for cites to what he took as disparaging remarks about the church. Unfortunately ex-Mormons know church history far better than active members since we had to study it to determine if our faith was misplaced.
I do hope that he doesn’t feel the need to follow me around on my threads and comments.
It’s possible that Mary is getting less money because she asked for less when she was hired, or indicated on her resume that she was making much less per hour than you in her previous job. It’s naive of you to think that April, being in business to make as much money for herself as possible, will pay everyone the same wage for doing the same job. She will pay as little as she can get away with. (I fully realize that I ended that last sentence with a preposition.)
If April cannot find a replacement for you for $x, she may have to increase the wage she offers to the next person. Sadly, Mary will probably not benefit from your exit based on principles.
I am a former sales manager and businessman, but thank you for the ECON 101 Cliffnotes.
This is a small operation and owners who screw over long time, loyal employees just because they can find they don’t have long time employees. This is especially true in the English teacher market where there are mostly young kids who come over a year and quit halfway through.
If you read the OP, you will see that I got into a fight with April over a number of issues, not just this. I had become increasingly frustrated with April. She is the friend of a friend and portrayed her school as an atypical school which actually cared about the teachers. When I only had a few classes, I really wasn’t in the loop enough or wasn’t paying enough attention to see it was just business as usual.
Unfortunately her people skills suck when she talks to teachers, and it had gotten to the point where I was too tired of it.
I wish that I were so principled that I’d quit any job over discrimination, but I have a family to feed.
It appears that you had a fight with you former employer, you quit, and now you’re trying to accuse your former employer of racism. Is there racism involved, or isn’t there??? Was your coworker paid less only because she’s black?
Do you and you former coworker belong to a union or guild? Who sets the rate at which you were paid? Has your former coworker requested a raise? If not, why not? If your former coworker did request a raise, what reason was given for not giving her a raise?
Did your former coworker request that you speak to your former employer on her behalf? Did she realize that you might be fired or resign?
You don’t like your job, so you quit. I’m happy and sad for you. However, I’m not seeing racism.
I’m confused. Is Mary not a long time, loyal employee? She’s remained with this school for over 10 years despite being screwed by the employer on her wages. Or are you just talking about long time, loyal employees who aren’t black?
If you read your own thread title, you will understand where I came to the conclusion that your coworker being paid less is the singular most important issue that led you to resign. If it isn’t, and April’s other flaws played an equal part, then your thread title is both disjointed and odd.
Why do you think that young blondes have the “image” that these schools want to project? Hint: It’s not because April is an ogre, it’s because young blondes draw in more students. If a young blonde American teacher draws and retains 25% more students than an old dark Ghanaian, then it’s understandable to pay the former 25% higher wages because they are a more valuable employee. ECON 101.
Is it racist? Sure. Just like it’s completely sexist that sales managers like yourself tend to hire attractive, young, well-groomed sales people to peddle their products. Sex sells and all that.
Okay, but racial discrimination is still morally wrong, people who engage in it should be called out, and being around it is dispiriting and annoying, and ultimately contributes to a toxic workplace.
My small town in China hosted English teachers from North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. I was in a different situation than most of them, but most were being thoroughly screwed by bait-and-switch recruiters that would give them a one-way ticket and promise well-paid, legal job in a large city, only to give them a barely-paid job in a backwoods town without a valid work visa. Sometimes it would take years for them to save enough for a return ticket home.
And it was worse for the Africans. And it sucks. It sucks seeing your friends so completely screwed.
Their is an old truth in working: “Your never paid what you are worth, you are paid what you negotiate for”.
If she came to that school and agreed to work for a certain wage, well thats just how it is. Employers want to pay as little as possible. They dont voluntarily pay people more if they can help it.
What sucks in the US is one can be fired for telling others what they make so even if one is being paid less than a coworker, how would they know?
Yup. If you read the comments from other people such as even and others who have worked in Asia and such blacks are routinely discriminated against.
I’m sexist now? OK, whatever.
Yeah, that’s the problem. It really sucks when you see your friends get taken advantage of because employers can. April knows that Mary would have a harder time getting a job someone else, so she pays her less. Some people here are apparently fine with that, but I’m with you, that racial discrimination is morally wrong. Somehow, if the circumstances were that there had only been one woman teacher and the three other male teachers (past and present) were paid more, then I doubt that people would object to the conclusion as quickly. I donno. The Internet is the Internet, so someone is going to tell’ya you’re wrong.
As you know, Asia is not America and people routinely acknowledge their racial prejudices. That’s part of the cultures which I don’t like.
I went to work for April because she was the friend of a friend. My wife met her first and she told my wife how much she was running the business like a happy little family. She also said that they concentrate on really learning English and not just passing tests, which is that standard method.
The place is really small, only enough students for two full time teachers or one full time and two part time. There had been one teacher there for twelve years who quit last year. Mary has been there for more than 10. That is really long to hold on to English teachers for cram schools.
I started there in March and things were OK, mostly because I only taught two classes, and didn’t interact much. The one teacher who was fired Mz. Z was obviously a problem, but Mary was really nice.
Anyway, things didn’t work out between us. As I was talking to Mary and April, it came out that the salaries were different. That really pissed me off because somehow I had assumed that being “a happy family” involved paying people fairly.
