"Just to clarify the comments I have made, are for the teachers who will start this school year the older teachers I think are fine.
So maybe its a once off cause the staff are to scared to have asked Brother for his signiture. But something tells me that if a school can screw someone once and they except they will do it again the next year etc.
But even if it's a once off its still worth mentioning to just inform."
Once off? Hardly. An outrageous wrong that gets worse on an almost daily basis? Read on, friends. I am making the comments below after speaking with five new teachers here. Being old hands at the teaching game in Thailand, several of them were smart enough to make both audio and video recordings of most of what I describe below. I have seen these recordings and they are quite damning to the administration of Assumption College and would probably carry considerable weight, should this go to court. After several years here, I have many stories to tell. This is the first one. I may tell some others, depending on how this works out.
I am writing this report on the behalf of five teachers recently hired by Assumption College, located on Charoenkreung Rd, near the intersection of Silom Rd. While I am not one of the five, I see and work with all of them on a daily basis. I have been at this school for more than 1 year. I am writing this because I am astonished and dismayed at what this school has done to my colleagues. I feel I must speak out for them because they have no voice and I fear for what will happen to the rest of us, should Assumption College be allowed to get away with what they are attempting.
The five teachers were hired in the middle of March, 2006, for the EP Mathayom division. All five were interviewed by the same committee on the same day and all were offered positions. The school informed them that they would start on 27 March, the first day of summer school. All five were told that they would be receiving 60,000 baht/month, plus a 5,000 baht/month housing allowance.
Of the five, three are experienced teachers who had not worked for Assumption before. These three were hired to teach physics, English and chemistry. The other two were transfers from other divisions of the school. one from the EP Prathom and one from one of the non-EP divisions. These two Assumption employees were hired to teach mathematics and English, respectively
All of the teachers are qualified, with bona fide degrees and with prior teaching experience adding up to more than thirty-five years between them. All of the teachers had, at the time of hiring, non-immigrant-B visas, teacher?s licenses and work permits. These documents were/are expiring at the beginning, middle or end of April for four of the five. These teachers needed signed contracts to take to immigration to extend their non-imm B visas. 2 of the teachers spoke of this necessity at their interviews. All were assured that it would not be a problem. One teacher, the one whose visa expired 1 April, went to the office on a daily basis to inquire about the contract. He was repeatedly assured that it was in the works, just waiting for a signature from ?Brother?, the Catholic director of this Catholic school.
On the third day of school, these five colleagues of mine were called to a meeting, attended by the head of EP, (since removed to another position. Last night, he told students in an online discussion group that he resigned, but he was actually replaced), the woman who did the actual hiring and a woman who has now been made head of EP. The five teachers were quite happy, assuming that big Brother had finally signed their contracts. Their spirits were even more buoyed as the woman who did the hiring, ?A?, started the meeting by saying how lucky the school was, after having suffered with a high turnover rate, to have finally found such a qualified, professional group of true educators.
Those hopes were quickly dashed, as ?A? made the following incredible announcement (?voice of ?A?):
1. The school made a mistake during hiring. The interview committee was not the proper committee and the five teachers were never observed teaching, as there were no students there during hiring.
2. Therefore, contracts will not be issued for three months. You will have to obtain tourist visas during that time.
3. Because we cannot confirm your validity as teachers, we will only be paying you 60,000 baht/month, withholding 5,000 baht/month until the MoE issues new teacher?s licences.
Obviously, the new teachers were dumbstruck at this pronouncement. The school made a mistake in hiring and therefore the teachers would have to lose their non-imm-B visas and work illegally on tourist visas? ?Cannot Brother simply sign something that looks like a contract, something that would satisfy immigration until the real contract can be had?, they asked? No, they were told. ?BROTHER INSISTS ON DOING THINGS BY THE BOOKS.? What?!!?
The teachers were assured twice during that meeting that the school, while not paying for their visa runs, would not dock them for school days missed for visa runs (at 3000 baht/day missed, the normal penalty for a sick day!). Note: this was rescinded later at another meeting described below.
OK, pretty bad. Teachers now have to work illegally and suffer the cost of monthly visa runs. Could be worse.
It is. MUCH worse!
On Monday, 17 April, the teachers were again called to a meeting. Breathing a sigh of relief that all was now right with the world, they eagerly anticipated meeting with Brother. But Brother was not there. Instead, it was the same group of Thais who were at the original meeting, plus a new guy who has recently been promoted and apparently needed to flex his muscles. He actually resembles a small insect, in particular, an ant.
The teachers were told that, because of the mistakes the school made during hiring, they were not yet formal teachers and would have to go through the hiring process again. Bad enough, but then the stunner, the item that instantly puts Assumption College in the Hall of Shame, the thing that schools should ever do.:
They were told that, because they don?t have formal contracts and are not really teachers, Assumption would only pay the, 25,000 baht of the promised 65,000! Yes, read that again. They could not believe it either. One of the teachers went so far as to call them liars. Another used the word ?thieves? at some point. The Thai people kept trying to justify this on the basis that a ?mistake was made? in hiring. After much semi-heated discussion, the Thais left the room, came back and said they really wanted to help these new teachers and that they would make sure that the new teachers received 30,000 of the promised 65,000!! Everybody left stunned. Couldn?t get any worse than that, right?
Oh, but it can. Much worse.
On Tuesday, 18 April, the five were called up to the office, where the Thai staff attempted to extort them to sign a paper stating that the new ?committee? had agreed to pay them 30,000 baht. One teacher signed on the spot. One teacher signed and told them he was leaving at the end of summer school. One teacher was not there. One teacher had his ?signature? entered in pencil by one of the Thais. The other teacher said he had to think about it.
On Thursday, 20 April, the teachers who had not signed were again called to the office. The paper was again presented to them, along with a pen and the terse statement ?Sign now?. This is literally what happened. There is video of it. One of the teachers asked why and was told that it was a pay agreement. When he responded that he already had a pay agreement from them, he was told he would BE PAID NOTHING, if he did not sign. He was also offered that when the new contracts were issued next week, the days worked in April would be counted as his entire probation period. He was also told that he would be paid 25 April, as are all teachers at Assumption. He responded with a smile, saying that when all of these agreements were put in writing and signed, he would consider their offer again.
He was met with raised voices by the Thais. He was told that, if he didn?t sign, he could not be considered for ?rehire? next week. One of them turned and walked away. The other one told the teacher not to speak to him anymore, but to speak only to ?A?. Later on Thursday, ?A? told this teacher to go and sign after lunch. She also told him that, because it was her mistake, she had been told that any money that had to be paid over the 30K would be deducted from her salary!
Why would they do this? We are all astounded. This seems to represent a new, rapid, downhill slide for Assumption. Fortunately, these teachers have videotape and the original ads for their positions. There is still some hope that this will be righted when Brother returns from Spain. After all, this is a Catholic institution and the Catholics generally follow the Bible and the Ten Commandments, two of which are ?Thou shalt not lie? and ?Thou shalt not steal?.
***Some speculation follows. Everything preceeding has been fact***
Many of the students? parents are refusing to pay the summer school tuition (fact), saying they were forced to send their kids to a program after the school failed them (fact). Since this is a for-profit institution, rather than a for-education institution, this money has to be made up from somewhere (speculation).
There are some more details to this story, and several more stories, but they will have to wait for another post.
Topic: Assumption College (Read 8061 times)