By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter
A protest by native English teachers in the district of Gangnam over diminished housing subsidies has met a major hurdle with the district office issuing a “take-it-or-leave-it” ultimatum.
The Ministry of Education, Technology and Science is taking side with the district, pointing out that its action is in full compliance with its guidelines.
Native English teachers were upset when Gangnam, the wealthiest district in Seoul, informed them of its decision to stop offering free housing and instead provide a monthly housing allowance of 900,000 won ($770) per month from next year.
By doing so, the office can avoid paying large housing deposits.
In response, some of the teachers, who are employed by the district as “teaching assistants,” complained about its unilateral decision, arguing that they won’t be able to find housing in Gangnam on the allowance.
They are considering taking the matter to the central government’s labor dispute mediation board.
However, the education ministry was not sympathetic to the teachers’ plight, saying that they are among the best treated foreign teachers.
“Schools don’t have to necessarily offer housing to their foreign employees and many employers just provide their workers with a housing subsidy,” said Hwang Ji-hye, an official in charge of managing native English teachers at the ministry. “Still, the housing allowance the Gangnam office proposed is more than two-fold higher than that of other regions.”
Under the employment guidelines set by the ministry, employers should provide native English speakers with at least 400,000 won per month for rent subsidy if they can’t provide housing.
The Gangnam office has recruited about 100 teachers every year, and native English teachers in the district can earn around 2.5 million won per month, which is more than any other district, the ministry said.
Ministry officials also said Korea offers better working conditions to native English teachers than other countries.
According to data collected by the ministry, most European countries don’t offer housing or airfare to native English teachers. In addition, they receive a much lower salary.
For example, France offers a maximum $1,400 per month, the Czech Republic, $1,488, and Finland, $1,430.
All prefer native English speakers who majored in English education with teaching licenses.
France even requires foreign English teacher hopefuls to have a certain level of French ability.
Besides the salaries, Korea offers entrance/exit and settlement allowances along with round-trip air tickets.
“There has been no change in our stance and there will not likely be any change,” Lee Hyun-hoon, an official at the Gangnam district office, told The Korea Times. “We asked schools to inform the foreign teachers of our decision. We will see how they will respond by the end of the week.”
Lee said that less than 10 of the 89 native English teachers were participating in the protest, adding that they receive better treatment than their counterparts in other districts.
kswho@koreatimes.co.kr
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