| Hard Lessons By Daniel Brook
Homesick and in debt, Indian teachers hired
to fill gaps in the Philadelphia public schools are
learning hard lessons about education and business
in America.
On
the night of Oct. 2, the Passage to India restaurant
in Center City was closed for a private reception. Inside,
nearly 50 teachers, decked out in suits and saris, filed
past platters of samosas and trays of salmon tikka.
The teachers had been brought from India to take unfilled
math and science positions in some of America’s toughest
classrooms.
After the guests were seated, Michael Vanjani, founder
of Teachers Placement Group (TPG), the private firm
that had recruited them, addressed the crowd of Indian
teachers and American school administrators. “We hope
the experiences gained from these teachers will help
[students] understand the complex issues of the global
economy,” Vanjani says.
It was a noble hope — and two months into the school
year, it is clear that in addition to getting knowledgeable
instructors, students are being exposed to a culture
from halfway around the world. The irony, however, is
that it’s the new Philadelphia teachers who’ve been
exposed to the complex issues of the global economy.
By finding them jobs, getting them visas and whisking
them from South Asia to Southeastern Pennsylvania, TPG
has exposed them to globalization’s unprecedented opportunities
for travel and cultural exchange. But by giving the
teachers inequitable pay and benefits that keep them
separated from their families, the company has also
exposed them to the global economy’s new opportunities
for exploitation.
Bringing in teachers from abroad is the latest attempt
by troubled school districts to fill teaching positions
few Americans want. Between the lower pay and added
difficulties of teaching in the inner city, many highly
qualified teachers opt to work in the suburbs. The problem
is particularly acute in math and science, where private
industry offers lucrative opportunities for potential
educators. As Maryann Greenfield, director of recruitment
for the School District of Philadelphia says, “For the
last three years we’ve really been stepping up our recruitment,
[but] on any given day we do have some vacancies.” This
year, Philadelphia schools opened with 85 vacancies,
down from 180 last year.
When Philadelphia school officials heard last winter
that the Chester Upland district was using teachers
from India, they contacted its recruiter, Teachers Placement
Group of Plainview, N.Y., and drew up a contract for
the company to provide up to 30 instructors. TPG agreed
to screen potential teaching candidates and send to
India two representatives of the Philadelphia district
on an all-expenses-paid trip to conduct interviews.
Any teachers the district brought in would be direct
employees of TPG. The district merely agreed to pay
the company the salaries it would normally pay teachers
coming in from outside the district. TPG’s profit would
be derived from passing on only a portion of those salaries
to the teachers. “None of [our arrangements with TPG]
have cost the school district or the taxpayers money,”
says Peter Bent, assistant director of recruitment for
the Philadelphia schools.
While school districts in the U.S. were drawing up contracts
with TPG, over in India, the selection process was already
under way. During the winter, TPG placed ads in Indian
newspapers offering the opportunity to teach in America.
Many teachers jumped at the chance, sending resumÈs
to one of TPG’s four Indian offices. Particularly well-qualified
candidates were called in for a series of interviews,
and those who made the cut were invited back for interviews
with American school officials in March. Most of the
finalists had master’s degrees and significant experience
teaching in Indian schools. Some even held doctorates.
(More than a dozen of the TPG’s 27 Indian teachers in
the Philadelphia schools were interviewed for this article,
but none would allow their names to be used.)
Looking back on the process, many of the teachers currently
in Philadelphia thought the meetings with school district
officials were strange. They were surprised that the
representatives seemed so focused on issues of classroom
management and discipline. Teachers were asked how they
would deal with two boys talking during class and what
they would do if the boys refused to listen to them.
One teacher said he wasn’t asked a single question about
his subject, only about discipline. For Indian teachers
accustomed to having students rise when they enter the
classroom, the questions were jarring.
Some seemed downright bizarre. One teacher says he was
asked how he would deal with African-American students.
“I told them ‘I’ve never met one. If you tell me what
they’re like, I’ll tell you how I’d teach them.’”
Despite the strange questions, the teachers wanted to
come. In India, having worked in the United States is
very prestigious. As a superpower and the world’s largest
economy, America looks like the promised land to middle-class
Indians who see the U.S. beamed down to them on satellite
TV. One teacher sums up the prevailing attitude: “When
you get the opportunity to go to America, everyone says,
‘Take it!’”
“To my kids, coming to the U.S. is like going to outer
space,” says another.
While some had reservations about the quality of America’s
schools, having seen coverage of Columbine on CNN, others
assumed that America’s schools would be the best in
the world. One teacher says her image of America from
TV was all “skyscrapers and brainy people.” Another
explained the logic behind her idea of America. “I thought
because it’s a developed country, it [must be] because
its people are intelligent and hardworking.”
Of the teachers interviewed by Philadelphia district
officials, 28 were hired. Each signed a contract with
TPG agreeing to pay the company a roughly $7,000 placement
fee. About two-thirds was paid up front; the rest would
be due six months after arriving in the states. In America
they were promised salaries of at least $34,500, varying
based on education level and years of experience.
The teachers, nearly all of whom are married with children,
hoped to use their American salaries to bring their
families to America. Some hoped to use their teaching
position as the first step toward a green card or American
citizenship. Others planned to teach for a few years
and move back to India with the experience of having
been to the U.S., not to mention a healthy stash of
cash. Most teachers had no concrete plans, but intended
to weigh their options once they and their families
arrived.
The extreme inequality between the First and Third worlds
makes money matters between them seem almost surreal.
In India, teachers are part of the urban middle class
in a nation where the majority of the people are farmers
and where the average income is roughly a dollar a day.
Surrounded by rural poverty and urban shantytowns, teachers
live in large, comfortable homes. They have been to
college in a nation where most women and many men are
illiterate in their own language, let alone English.
Teachers can afford to travel throughout India and own
consumer goods like phones and televisions. Yet if they
were ever to leave India and travel to a developed country
like Japan or the United States, they would be poorer
than the poorest people. In fact, the plane ticket alone
would cost several months’ salary. A teacher in India
makes about $3,000 a year, which can be supplemented
by tutoring on the side. This is nearly 10 times the
income of the average Indian, but less than a tenth
of a U.S. teacher’s salary. As one Indian teacher puts
it, “We’re only here because of the currency gap.”
TPG’s initial fee of around $5,000 is nearly two years’
pay. To raise the money, teachers borrowed from friends
and family members. Some took out loans from banks,
putting up their houses as collateral. One teacher even
mortgaged his father’s property. Still, they had faith
in the currency gap. With a guaranteed salary of $34,500,
surely the debts would be repaid. Still, some became
suspicious when TPG’s Cleveland-bound teachers received
letters from the district disclosing their salaries
while the Philadelphia-bound teachers received nothing.
One TPG teacher now in Philadelphia says he saw a Cleveland-bound
teacher’s letter promising a salary of $44,000. When
he asked a TPG representative in the company’s Hyderabad
office if he would receive a similar salary in Philadelphia
since he had similar qualifications, he says he was
told, “Yes, very likely.” The educators arrived in America
in late August. The Philadelphia teachers were housed
in the Conshohocken Marriott where they underwent orientation.
Two days before the start of the school year, each teacher
signed a contract TPG had prepared specifying his or
her salary. All were above $34,500 and below $40,000
with the possibility of bonuses. The pay scale for other
teachers coming into the Philadelphia district ranges
from $32,598 to $54,538. While many Indian teachers
were unsatisfied with their pay, having assumed that
their advanced degrees or years of experience would
merit much higher pay as it did for their Cleveland-bound
counterparts, they were hardly in a position to negotiate.
Thousands of miles from home, in debt to banks and relatives,
and without jobs to return to in India, there was nothing
to do but, perhaps, complain for a moment and sign on
the dotted line.
TPG’s Michael Vanjani defended his practice of not disclosing
teachers’ salaries until their arrival in the U.S. It
was not until “that time [that] we had their credentials
evaluated,” he says.
On the first day of school, the teachers realized why
discipline had been stressed in their interviews. Instead
of two boys misbehaving, many found only two boys behaving.
The rest of the class defied their authority. One Indian
teacher quit that day. Colleagues believe she left because
of the lack of classroom discipline. TPG, which refunded
her placement fee and paid for her return plane ticket,
says she left for family reasons. Regardless, it soon
became clear to the remaining teachers that their primary
classroom responsib-ility was simply maintaining order,
not actually teaching their subjects. During interviews
conducted in late October, many teachers expressed fear
that they were forgetting their subject matter since
they had to teach at such a low level.
Some said the discipline problems were so serious that
they were afraid to go to work. A rumor that a student
had thrown a stone at a teacher’s face spread through
the Indian teachers, many of whom were quite shaken.
As one teacher says, “We go [to school] with fear in
our hearts.”
Despite the problems, the Indian teachers universally
hailed their co-workers and administrators who they
say have helped them deal with the culture gap and the
challenges of teaching in the inner city.
The next big surprise came on payday. As the teachers
stared at their pay stubs, they saw nearly a third of
the salaries going to taxes of one sort or another.
Philadelphians may be accustomed to paying high taxes,
but the Indians, used to total tax rates of less than
10 percent, were unprepared. Many say they thought the
$34,500 figure quoted by TPG was take-home pay. They
claim taxes were never discussed.
Vanjani says he told his teachers back in India that
taxes would range from 15 percent to 25 percent, depending
on the district they were in. Assuming this is true,
15 percent is still a low figure. Even the teachers
in low-tax South Carolina owe more than 15 percent,
the minimum federal tax rate to which state and local
taxes are added. Furthermore, all Philadelphia teachers
pay more than 25 percent of their income in taxes.
The other shock was benefits. TPG’s Philadelphia teachers
have full health and dental benefits, but unlike other
Philadelphia teachers, their spouses and children are
not covered.
In India, the subject of benefits was mentioned briefly
on a “Frequently Asked Questions” sheet provided to
the teachers by TPG. Under the question “What are the
kinds of benefits that American schools normally allow
a foreign teacher?” the response read, “American schools
give health insurance. Other benefits offered may be
life insurance and workman’s compensation.” The same
FAQ sheet was given to all teachers regardless of where
they were headed in the U.S. No extra information was
provided to the Philadelphia-bound teachers, though
their health insurance plans were less comprehensive
than those of the other teachers.
The Indian teachers, now in Philadelphia, admit they
didn’t think to ask whether the health benefits would
cover their families. In India, teachers generally do
not have health insurance and pay for health care out
of pocket. Since doctor’s fees and medicine costs are
low, this rarely presents a problem. The teachers say
they did not realize how expensive health care would
be in the U.S. and accordingly did not appreciate the
importance of health insurance coverage.
Since the teachers planned to bring their families over,
they now realize that their inadequate health insurance
is a gravely serious problem. According to the terms
of the teachers’ visas, spouses may enter the country
but are not eligible to work, making it impossible for
families to be covered through another employer. “We
only said yes [to the job offers] because we thought
we could bring our families by Christmas,” says one
teacher. “We came for our kids,” says another, “but
now we’re not sure they can come.”
When asked whether the lack of health benefits was deterring
TPG employees from bringing over their families, Vanjani
says, “We suggested that to bring the families right
away is not to their advantage. They need time to settle
into a new country.” Many teachers say Vanjani told
them the same thing when they complained, insinuating
that keeping the families split up was a matter of choice,
not necessity.
But health insurance is not the only barrier to reuniting
their families. Having seen Philadelphia’s public schools,
teachers are wary of bringing their children over and
enrolling them. “We’re scared of putting them in these
schools, and we can’t afford Catholic schools,” said
one teacher. Some have contemplated moving to the suburbs
if their families ever came. Others have college-age
children and realize that they would be unable to afford
tuition.
The teachers now recognize that they face a very difficult
decision: working alone in the U.S. and scraping some
money together to wire home, or bringing over their
families and living hand to mouth. Supporting a family
on an after-tax income in the $20,000 range with no
health insurance is hard enough. Factoring in $7,000
of debt and one-way plane tickets costing around $600
apiece, it is almost impossible.
Interviewing the Indian teachers in the apartments where
they live in groups of up to nine, it is clear how little
they understood about their jobs when they came over.
Every few weeks they learn new details about their situation.
Recently, they have heard that the teachers in Cleveland
and Chester are unionized and are getting better pay.
One TPG teacher in Philadelphia said he has tried to
persuade an Indian teacher in Cleveland to send him
a copy of his pay stub, but so far has been unsuccessful.
Many teachers are only beginning to realize that the
district pays TPG more than TPG pays them. Since they
clearly agreed to pay TPG the $7,000 placement fee,
many believed this was TPG’s total cut.
In two separate interviews, a teacher took out a copy
of the current union contract and turned to the salary
scales pointing to what their pay should be based on
their education and experience. According to the union
salary scale, the most experienced and highly educated
teachers should be receiving nearly 40 percent more
than TPG pays them. In their first few weeks of teaching,
the instructors were so in the dark about their employment
situation that during an Oct. 11 meeting with district
officials, some actually asked whether they were in
the union.
That the teachers’ problems are unique to Philadelphia
shows just how preventable they are. Teachers Placement
Group has recruited teachers for Cleveland; Baltimore;
Cecil County, Md.; Englewood and Newark in New Jersey;
and Chester, Pa., as well as schools in South Carolina.
In each of these districts, TPG is solely a placement
agency; teachers pay the company the placement fee and
make additional payments during the year, but they are
employed directly by the school districts. This means
they are members of the local teachers union and receive
the same pay and benefits as other teachers in their
school districts. What they will be paid and how much
they owe TPG is clearly spelled out before they arrive
in the U.S.
Indian teachers in Cleveland are paid the same wages
and benefits as other Cleveland teachers, earning between
$32,863 to $43,426, based on education and experience.
Those making more than $35,000 owe TPG an extra yearly
fee, up to $6,000 for the best-paid teachers. By contrast,
TPG takes more than twice that from the salaries of
its most qualified employees in Philadelphia.
The Cleveland district provides a clear example of how
a school system can use TPG to provide much-needed teachers
while ensuring they are treated equitably. Carol Hauser,
human resources director for the Cleveland school system,
says that TPG initially sought to be the direct employer
of the 40 teachers it was providing the district. Hauser
describes that initial offer as Vanjani’s “standard
procedure.” When the district refused, Vanjani agreed
to allow the school board to hire the teachers. As part
of the contract, the Cleveland schools agreed to pay
TPG $180,000.
In late August, when the Cleveland Teachers Union raised
questions about a clause in the Indian educators’ contracts,
the district stopped payment on its six-figure check
to TPG. The union said the teachers’ contracts bound
them to pay TPG $15,000 if they wanted to return to
India. Vanjani said that was a misreading of the contract,
that teachers would owe TPG that fee only if they took
a job in another U.S. school district. But with payment
stopped, Vanjani quickly agreed to modify the contract
to state clearly that no money would be owed by a teacher
who decided to return to India and that TPG would be
responsible for providing a return plane ticket. With
the issue resolved, the district resumed payment, but
on a quarterly basis, retaining the authority to monitor
the contract.
In Philadelphia, the contracts have not been modified,
though TPG did pay for the return ticket of the one
teacher who returned to India and relieved her of her
debts.
Richard DeColibus, president of the Cleveland Teachers
Union, compared the employment situation in his district
with the setup in Philadelphia: “[Our arrangement is]
better for everyone — except maybe Mr. Vanjani,” he
says.
Despite the more equitable setup in Cleveland, some
teacher-exchange advocates consider any recruitment
situation that forces applicants to go into debt to
be exploitive. Trudy Herman, executive director of Amity
Institute, says the San Diego-based nonprofit that organizes
teacher exchanges charges its teachers only $1,800 and
does not collect any money up front, though teachers
are responsible for purchasing their own round-trip
plane tickets. Herman says that after she learned that
TPG demands fees up front, Amity, which had helped the
company obtain visas, canceled all contracts with it.
Herman says an Amity lawyer who saw a TPG labor contract
described its terms as “near servitude.”
While vigilance on the part of the Philadelphia Federation
of Teachers could have nipped problems in the bud, the
groundwork for the Indian teachers’ predicament was
laid long before the School District of Philadelphia
had even heard of Teachers Placement Group. In the summer
of 2000, Philadelphia teachers threatened to go on strike.
At the last possible moment, the district and the union
agreed on a new contract; the school year started on
time. But over the next few months, little odds and
ends of the contract were worked out between union officials
and school district administrators through binding addenda
to the contract called “side letters.”
In one such side letter, dated Sept. 27, 2000, Marjorie
Adler, the district’s executive director of human resources,
wrote Philadelphia Federation of Teachers President
Ted Kirsch, “In the event the School District has been
unable to recruit and/or hire a sufficient number of
certified teachers to fill existing vacancies in areas
of critical need through the normal hiring, posting
and transfer processes by June 1, the School District
may enter into contracts with outside providers to provide
services which would otherwise be filled by bargaining
unit members.” The district was asking for the right
to subcontract, and the union, by tacking the letter
onto the contract, indicated its agreement.
Subcontracting is usually fought tooth and nail by labor
unions. The practice weakens the bargaining unit by
creating a divisive two-tier wage structure in which
employees with equal qualifications and experience get
different wages and benefits for doing the same job.
It also creates a group of employees who work in a unionized
workplace without paying dues to the union. Because
subcontracting hurts the union’s bottom line, union
leaders tend to fight it hard.
But for some reason the teachers union rolled over.
According to union spokeswoman Barbara Goodman, “We
had 200 to 300 vacancies at the beginning of the school
year. In a last-ditch effort to fill positions, that
[subcontracting] language was agreed to.” Goodman insisted,
however, that there is an “ongoing effort” to get the
teachers into the bargaining unit, though she would
not discuss specifics.
School district recruitment and examination director
Maryann Greenfield says, “We have not received any grievances
[regarding the Indian teachers].”
Despite the stated intentions of the Philadelphia Federation
of Teachers, other unions, from Newark, N.J., to South
Carolina — not exactly union territory—— were able to
get their districts to hire their Indian teachers directly,
making the workers eligible for union membership and
equal pay and benefits. One district official was especially
blunt. When Gregory King, spokesman for the Newark Public
Schools, heard that in Philadelphia TPG is used as a
subcontractor, he says, “We would really get reamed
out royally [by the teachers union] for that.” King
said that Indian teachers in Newark are paid the same
as other Newark teachers. The starting salary is roughly
$41,000 for a bachelor’s degree with no experience.
Because of their education and experience, all of the
Indian teachers make more than that.
Two districts, Cecil County, Md., and Chester, Pa.,
that had used TPG as a subcontractor last year now directly
employ their Indian teachers. According to Joann Emerson,
the Chester Upland district human resources director,
the initial contract set up with TPG was hastily created
“in the interests of time.” This year, because of “union
considerations,” the district has become the direct
employer and the teachers are part of the collective-bargaining
unit.
Henry Shaffer, who handles human resources for the Cecil
County Public Schools, also says “union concerns” were
a factor in the change in his district.
Even if the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers could
not secure equal wages and benefits for the Indian teachers,
the federal government should have. TPG brings over
Indian teachers on H-1B visas a temporary working visa
for non-immigrant professionals. Employers who obtain
such visas for their workers are required by law to
pay them the prevailing wages and benefits for the job
they are performing in the area where they are performing
it. The stipulation is designed to keep American employ-ers
from bringing in foreigners solely to save money, likewise
protecting foreigners from inequitable situations. Clearly,
the TPG teachers in Philadelphia are being paid less
than other Philadelphia teachers and have worse benefits,
but no one can say whether this is the result of a loophole
in the visa law or a violation of that law.
To obtain H-1B visas, an employer must file a “labor
condition agreement” with the federal Department of
Labor. In that document, the potential employer must
list the prevailing wage for the job. To discern the
prevailing wage, employers may use any source they please
or even their own calculations.
The information listed by the employer on the labor
condition agreement is never verified unless a complaint
arises. “If the union is not objecting, we’re going
to accept it as legitimate,” says Stephen Stefanko of
the Department of Labor’s Philadelphia office. “The
Wage and Hour Division does enforcement based on complaint
only.”
In discussing the union’s efforts on behalf of the Indian
teachers, Philadelphia Federation of Teachers spokeswoman
Barbara Goodman never mentioned having challenged TPG’s
labor-condition agreement. When asked directly, Goodman
would not reveal whether the union had done so. “We
certainly have inquired about their salary and benefits,”
she said, “but it takes a much deeper legal knowledge
to understand what exactly prevailing wage is, and I’m
not sure that we’re entirely sure.” The school district
has not asked the Department of Labor to verify TPG’s
prevailing-wage information either. District official
Peter Bent, who initially provided some prevailing-wage
data requested by the Department of Labor, said, “I’ve
never seen [TPG’s] labor-condition agreement.”
Michael Vanjani says TPG’s attorneys handled all visa
paperwork. He refused to provide the names of TPG’s
attorneys or contact information for them.
The more the teachers learn about their situation, the
more they feel that they are not solely responsible
for their predicament. While they regret their naivete
at taking jobs without knowing their precise salaries,
benefits, tax rates or working conditions, they have
come to believe that there is more than enough blame
to go around. Some lies with Teachers Placement Group,
for taking advantage of their desperation and naivete;
some with the School District of Philadelphia, whose
only interest was in staffing classrooms. Much blame
lies with the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, for
failing to look out not only for the teachers’ interests,
but even for its own narrow self-interests.
But sharing blame with faceless institutions offers
little solace when teachers call home to tell their
families that any plans for being reunited must be postponed
indefinitely.
One science teacher has explained to his wife over the
phone that the family cannot come to America because
he cannot support them. When he talks to his teenage
daughter, rather than break her heart, he lies. “How
can I tell her?” he asks. Another teacher does not go
into specifics. He says simply, “We had dreams.” Reprinted
with permission from the City Paper, Philadelphia.
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