Re: Re: GEPIK is Finished

You know, I wouldn't put it past the big hagwon chains to have made under the table bribes to the Gyeonggi-do government. After all, the only people who will actually benefit from this are.......Hagwons. They have the most to lose from English teachers existing in the public school system as we are in direct competition with them and every extra NET GEPIK has leads to less parents sending their kids to hagwons, ergo less money for them. Its in their interest to wipe us out and this is the most obvious way to do it.

Parents(Taxpayers) lose out most. because now they will have to pay a crapload more money over and above the taxes they were already paying anyway so their kids can learn English from a native speaker. Gotta love corruption, right?

The job market just got a whole lot tighter.

I really wonder what I'm going to do.  I'm pretty much tied down to the Seoul-Gyeonggi area for non-work related reasons.

This started a while back already!

After I renewed my contract in April, my co-teacher sat me down for a most depressing talk about how I cannot work in Korea anymore, and while she was telling me this, the vice principal rushed in to tell us that my contract will (for some reason) not be terminated.
It was a confusing experience.
Anyhow, I still have my contract and I'm happy. It just seemed somewhat unprofessional.

But I've heard of other teachers just being let go in the middle of their contracts.
I find it quite outrageous.

A friend of mine also got the call from his coteacher after re-signing last week. I'm also disturbed to read in that article just now that some of us might not be able to be paid...

As I said below on April 28 on this thread - http://waygook.org/index.php/topic,6538.100.html

According to my co-teacher, people who have contracts that end on August 31st will be OK. If they don't re-hire any of the NTs whose contracts expire on the 31st then no schools would have teachers on Sept 1st. GEPIK wants all of the contract start dates to line up. So, if they didn't re-hire the teachers who finish on the 31st, they wouldn't be hiring any NTs until March 1st, which makes no sense. They can't re-hire anyone to start on a day before September 1st, that's all.

If someone's contract finishes on June 22nd and their school wants to keep them then they will have to re-sign with the start date being Sept 1st. So, that person will be out of a job for a little while.

... except Kimmi will not extend the Period of Sojourn for the visa of anyone who's contract ends before August 31st because the contracts are not continuous. Therefore, the NET will have to leave K-land and apply for a new visa (with all that entails); and also, lose any pay level increase based on continuous service they had, or would have had. In effect, the NET will start again at 'square one'. GEPIK is just 'cleaning house'. It has nothing to do with improving anything - it's all about money!

What happens to teachers who started the semester in March? Will there contracts be terminated early? If that's the case, then do they have to pay the airfare back?

What happens to teachers who started the semester in March? Will there contracts be terminated early? If that's the case, then do they have to pay the airfare back?

That depends entirely on the wording of the contract.

does this mean that current contracts would be terminated? If your contract does not end until March can they cancel your contract?

Sure... they give you 30 days notice and dismiss you for managerial reasons. Bye bye.

hmm...

if they have no money and are laying off English teachers, what are they going to do about plane tickets for all those stranded teachers?

hmm...

if they have no money and are laying off English teachers, what are they going to do about plane tickets for all those stranded teachers?

They'll quote the contracts and state that they're not obligated to provide plane tickets.  For those who were flown here and have been here less than 6 months, they'll demand payment for the flight from home to here.

Is it too much to hope for that the teachers who will be most directly affected by this will be notified in the next few weeks?  I leave on vacation in early August, and suddenly I'm worried that I will come back to no job and no apartment.

Is it too much to hope for that the teachers who will be most directly affected by this will be notified in the next few weeks?  I leave on vacation in early August, and suddenly I'm worried that I will come back to no job and no apartment.

They will notify us, but not because they care about your vacation, visa status, employment status. 

hmm...

if they have no money and are laying off English teachers, what are they going to do about plane tickets for all those stranded teachers?

Probably suggest the stranded teachers buy an international calling card and phone Mom & Dad for the money.  ::)

Doesn't that violate Korean Labor Law?  I thought schools have to honour the 1 year contracts.  You can't just fire a bunch of people mid-way through. 

lacyfan,

What's wrong with you? Why do you keeep making posts that are nothing but a quote?

I think it's her way of suggesting that you didn't read the section of the article that she is quoting.  This is not about GEPIK 'cleaning house'...if you actually read the article at the top of the thread you would see that it's about the Gyeonggi rovincial Council approving the Gyeonggi Provincial Office Of Education's funding request....minus the 15.6 billion won required to renew English Teacher's contracts.   The article quotes the GPOE (the body that oversees GEPIK) as calling the reduction 'ridiculous'...and also mentions that

"However, the remaining 623 teachers whose contracts are just underway are the ones facing immediate trouble because they may not be able to receive their salaries starting next month."

This is nothing like the situation that people were grossly over-stating in April...this is actually quite a serious state of affairs...and whilst I'm sure the boards will light up about this...we probably won't know much more for a week or two or three....probably not just lucky chance that this has occurred while most people are on summer vacation!

What do they mean "just underway"?

I'm unaware of how many teachers are in the entire GEPIK program.  Are they referring to all of us?  Not just those who are starting this new semester, but those of us who signed up in March?

Doesn't that violate Korean Labor Law?  I thought schools have to honour the 1 year contracts.  You can't just fire a bunch of people mid-way through.

Yeah, they can get away with a lot but not this. Either the reporter is mistaken or an education official is about to get humiliated in court.

Here's the math from the original article posted at the start of this thread -

With the budget cut, about 819 teachers will have to find new jobs in the coming months, officials said.

Out of the 1,119 foreign English teachers in elementary, middle and high schools who receive their salary from the education office, 300 have already been laid off.

There were 300 laid off already...a further 819 will be cut...which means that the GPOE will be funding 0 jobs.

This doesn't mean the end of the program however, because there are still another 800 or so who are funded through their schools or City Hall.  It does mean that the job market over the coming months is going to get brutal...and one can expect that conditions for Hagwon teachers will likely reduce if competition for those jobs increases.

Anyone ready for a class action lawsuit for broken contracts?

I'm in rural area and I know one teacher that can't renew due to lack of budget.  It's hitting all areas. 

You know, I wouldn't put it past the big hagwon chains to have made under the table bribes to the Gyeonggi-do government. After all, the only people who will actually benefit from this are.......Hagwons. They have the most to lose from English teachers existing in the public school system as we are in direct competition with them and every extra NET GEPIK has leads to less parents sending their kids to hagwons, ergo less money for them. Its in their interest to wipe us out and this is the most obvious way to do it.

Parents(Taxpayers) lose out most. because now they will have to pay a crapload more money over and above the taxes they were already paying anyway so their kids can learn English from a native speaker. Gotta love corruption, right?

I think you got to the core of it -- this is possibly one of the main reasons for discontinuing NET's working in GEPIK. Whether it's the western or eastern world, most "democracies" in reality seem to be plutocracies. Public policy that doesn't enrich the "job creators" won't remain for very long.