Who's name do I use to threaten my school?

So, payday was the 10th. I've been at my school for this past year, so they already have my account info. I talked to them politely about it on the 11th, and they said they deleted my bank info and need me to provide it. Strange. Two days roll around and now they need my bank card number. Two days later and they need my bank account information again. They've promised to pay me within two days once or twice, and are now on the you'll get paid tomorrow train. Their next step will probably be "we've paid you go check". I'm at a technical college and not some fly-by-night training center.

One of the reasons I stayed here was for the relatively high pay and promptness with which it was delivered. No foreign teacher has yet been paid. My Chinese co-workers have, and are also wondering WTF.

Step one: threaten to call the authorities
Step two: give it a day or two, then actually call them

SAFEA? PSB?

They're going to pay you and if you kick up a fuss then you'll achieve nothing.

Public colleges in China get a direct disbursement from the Provincial MoE (>90% of institutions) tied to teaching.  Alot of institutions don't pay out until they get it paid in.  That's probably what's slowing it down. 

If you've been there for a year and they haven't missed a payday and this is affecting Chinese staff too then all you are going to get by threats is important people talking about you like you are a problem.  The "we lost your info" was probably just a poor attempt at a face saving thing. 

They're going to pay you and if you kick up a fuss then you'll achieve nothing.

Public colleges in China get a direct disbursement from the Provincial MoE (>90% of institutions) tied to teaching.  Alot of institutions don't pay out until they get it paid in.  That's probably what's slowing it down. 

If you've been there for a year and they haven't missed a payday and this is affecting Chinese staff too then all you are going to get by threats is important people talking about you like you are a problem.  The "we lost your info" was probably just a poor attempt at a face saving thing.

Thanks for weighing in, but there is a clarification to be made. The Chinese staff have been paid, the foreign staff have not.

Thanks for weighing in, but there is a clarification to be made. The Chinese staff have been paid, the foreign staff have not.

Ah, when you said that Chinese staf were "like WTF" I assumed that meant they had also not been paid.

This is someone being inefficient then.  Do you get paid from central funds or a department's budget?

The latest development is that the financial officer has been in Australia for two weeks and they needed him to sign off on the financial documents allowing payment, although why the non-Z visa holders have been paid doesn't make much sense to me. He's "here now" and we will get paid by Thursday. This gives us a few days to plan and one to act if they don't pay up.

One idea, is that our FAO is an mitochondrial organism floating about in the larger cell that is our school. For all intents and purposes it doesn't appear to be this way, but it's possible.

The Chinese teachers are going to be part of ongoing payment system, the vast majority of them are permanent employees rather than on one year contracts. This is probably the first payment for the school year for the foreign teachers and if there are ever going to be problems with them it is going to happen in that first payment for the year. I have no problem in seeing problems in the payment of the foreign "short-term" teachers and no problems in paying the Chinese "permanent" teachers. It makes sense to me that it is easily possible. Not good but logical and understandable. Something going wrong could easily impact one and not the other.

Threatening your school with any name is pointless. SAFEA has no power, the police is reluctant to get involved with anything. The only thing you can do is invoke any clause in your contract about pay day and not being paid on time. Normally there is none. Lots of clauses about what FTs have to do and the numerous punishments available but not for the school. You can threaten to leave. That is it. Causing a stink will only hurt you. Chinese schools can easily find some bullshit reason to get rid of an FT.

If your college is anything like mine there is one signatory to authorise pay for the department's 'short term' staff, us. We received our August and Septembers pays more than a week late because our signatory was out of the country...sadly this situation simply needs patience on your part. If the school has been straight up in the past, don't fret, just be frugal for a few more days.
R

The latest development is that the financial officer has been in Australia for two weeks and they needed him to sign off on the financial documents allowing payment, although why the non-Z visa holders have been paid doesn't make much sense to me. He's "here now" and we will get paid by Thursday.

The guy who "signs off" on the books was gone. The people without work permits got paid normally, because they are off the books.

10+ years in China working for however many employers... my one and only cardinal rule: Payday! It's written in the contract and it's the one and only clause no one can really argue.

My standard has always been: it's gotta be there maximum 5 days after the stated date or i just simply leave. I'm more than willing to walk out on one month's wages but never more. So far, it's only happened once that salary was delayed ( freaking weird public holidays) and i did warn the university that i would simply sit at home until it was in my account. They found a very quick way to get it in there when faced with 300+ students wondering why the teacher was not in class. Point was made and it never happened again.

You don't need a name or any sort of hookup, just a firm attitude once in a while.

Of course, there are attenuating circumstances but threatening doesn't work. A simple " call me back when the money is here" does the trick because they simply can't argue with it. It leaves no room for negotiations.

I'm the same as Noles. For me 7 days late and I'm on holiday. Also, I bug the shit out of one person. Usually the party leader of my department. Never the FAO, they don't matter. I call several times a day at odd times asking if there is any news, very polite and all but seriously... all the time. Holidays get some leeway time.

The latest development is that the financial officer has been in Australia for two weeks and they needed him to sign off on the financial documents allowing payment, although why the non-Z visa holders have been paid doesn't make much sense to me.

Because they are on a payroll system whereas you are paid by a departmental budgetary disbursement.  That's why the systems are different.

However, here's a though, the Finance Officer boss can authorize the release of monies.  You just need to go up the chain until a suitable omnicompetent executive is discovered - a VP I suggest.

 

Good advice, thanks all. I'll update here as it develops.

Payment received this morning - 15 days and 4 broken promises later, but paid. Looks like they are taking out about 11.5% "pension" funds now. I heard about this happening in scattered areas, it being the law and such.

In theory we are to get this back when we leave China. Since the school operates on ad hoc excel files, if there is a chance this money could be refunded upon departure what type of documents would the government accept? Or are we breaking new ground here?

Sorry to hear about that Tree. Why didn't you just refuse to work? 2 weeks without pay isn't acceptable for anyone.....