Trouble in the Henhouse

Some different issues started to come to a head two weeks ago about rules at work. The details are pretty boring honestly, but lets just say that we've been warned over and over again that employers in Korea will take all that they can get and push for more if they think they can get away with it. I understand that this is a generalization and may be grossly inaccurate, but I've experienced it and have had many other stories to verify it.

Basically, the rules at work had been getting stricter and stricter around out break times. They were pushing us to use our break times for work because there were little other options unless you find twiddling your thumbs amusing. They also have been piling on more and more work. We totally revamped our speaking course to include much more preparation on the teachers part. In short, we didn't want to end up in a stressful situation where we hated work and were constantly bombarded by changes and impossible requests.

The foreign teachers united and made a formal complaint at our meeting with our director. At first the air was pretty relaxed, but then the vice director kept repeating the same illogical excuse for the strict rules. We then mentioned that Korean law stipulates a free break period of so many minutes per so many hours working... yadda yadda. They panicked a little I guess because the next day, during a regular meeting with our academic director, we were told that there would be no changes to the rules, but breaking them slightly wouldn't get us in too much trouble. She also mentioned that the director and vice director consulted their lawyer and that as for a break time, they give us 5 minutes after each class which adds up to more than enough to meet the requirement of the law. BAH! I feel a bit like it's 2 steps forward and one step back, but at least we gained ground. The other thing I think we gained was a firm foothold. Our director knows now that we can't be pushed around.

In the past two weeks we have been fed more food and given more praise than ever. We still don't have free breaks, but some of the restrictions have been removed. Hurray! As for more work, we'll see.