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Many foreign English teachers routinely get ripped off by their employers. Fortunately, the China Foreign Teachers Union can help if you've been treated unfairly.

China Foreign Teachers Union
http://www.chinaforeignteachersunion.or ... chers.html

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LOL this guy is really dreaming.

As Ghost said this make pretend "union" will have absolutely no power to help you in any way. As a foreigner if your employer screws you over there is really nobody to help you. You can either deal with it, quit and find a new job or go home. Those are really your only options. Even the locals get screwed over in China.

The guy who made that is dreaming if he thinks his little "proposal" has any chance of being passed by the Chinese government. A minimum wage for native foreign teachers of 250 rmb an hour would mean a minimum of 19000 rmb a month assuming an average workload of 18 teaching hours. I made 6000rmb a month in Beijing with shared housing. I knew plenty of foreign teachers and most were making 6000 to 12000 rmb. I don't think I knew anyone who made 19,000rmb a month. Even those who worked full time and had a part time job or tutored a lot on the side were only able to make about 13000-16000rmb altogether if they were working like slaves for 7 days a week. Keep in mind this is BEIJING we are talking about.

There's no shortage of newbies willing to work for 6000-8000rmb a month with shared housing or 8500-10000 without housing. What incentive would they have to pay more than double that amount?

The comparisons to UAE and Japan were stupid. Those countries pay far better because they are far richer. Japan and UAE's GDP per capita are $35,178 and $42,080 respectively. China's is $9233. The comparison to oral corporate translators was stupid as well. Not only are those positions hard to get compared to teaching positions but they pay well because those jobs require fluency in both mandarin and English. Very few foreigners in China are fluent enough in mandarin to translate at that level.

Even if the Chinese government passed such a proposal, which they would have no incentive to and have zero chance of doing, it would mean a dearth of jobs for foreign English teachers because most schools wouldn't be able to afford to hire English teachers if they had to pay them 19000rmb a month. A lot of public schools in poor provinces pay as little as 4500-5500rmb a month to foreign teachers.

Anyone taking his advice of demanding 250rmb per teaching hour will be laughed out of the school by their employer. Want good wages? Check out Japan, Korea and UAE though you will find the ESL market in those countries are completely saturated.

This isn't even a real union. This is just some guy and maybe a few of his buddies with a half baked idea and a website. Again, as a foreigner you have nobody to back you up if your employer screws you over. Employers in China can even UNILATERALLY have your Z visa (work visa) canceled and even blacklist you if they were the one that sponsored you.

I actually used the CFTU to collect my last paycheck from my slick principal last year at *** English (10,000rmb). Even though I chose not to become a member they helped me anyway. I did attend two of their meetings and the cross-cultural seminar two weeks ago at the Friendship Hotel. They are all expats and I and got a lot of free stuff from them that has been pretty useful so far.

http://www.bjstuff.com/forum/topics/15- ... e=activity

The reason I chose not to become a member is only because I have no extra free time to do any of the volunteer work they ask for since membership is free. They did admit that they are not a real union because private unions are illegal in China, but it was explained that they chose that name to let teachers know they do the work of unions - dealing with gripes and cheater employers. I was expecting this group to try and peddle something to me like a TEFL course or some training, but it turned out they do not sell or promote or even advertise any goods or services. So then I thought they were going to hustle some born-again Christian religion on me. Nope. I don't even get spam from them, just the scam alerts that I subscribed to.

I also like them because they expose the dark side of the China expat teachers market and the many tricks and traps that are pretty easy to fall for. I think this article is one every newbie teacher should read.

http://open.salon.com/blog/china_busine ... _hype_lies

For the past three years I have always used their "agent reply form letter" which so far has saved me a lot of time, money, and grief.

http://www.esl-jobs-forum.com/viewtopic.php?p=14105

My ex introduced me to the group in 2011 and a lot of the leaders are from the old China Teacher's Alliance that was busted up by the government. This may explain why they try to keep a low profile and only tell people their first names. That secrecy seems to be their only down-side. But anyone who helps me get my paycheck from a greedy Chinese sham is righteous in my book.

I got fu*cked over by two agents and a school before I crossed paths with the CFTU website and got a crash course on reality in China. These expats don't give a shit about being politically correct. They tell the truth and expose all the bottom feeders who make a lot money as agents but pose as "fellow teachers" on all the esl/tefl forums and message boards. These are the only ones who trash and bash the China Foreign Teachers Union because they were exposed on the CFTU blacklist!

The CFTU gave me a bunch of free advice, visa laws, contract templates, and even an introduction to the Chinese authorities who helped catch the Chinese "recruiter" who got credit cards issued in my name and rang up a $9,700 tab! They never asked me for anything in return. China is a safer place for expat teachers because of these CFTU guys so let's support them.