Since August 20 I have my new job being a teacher in IJburg.'IJburg' is a residential neighbourhood currently under construction in the east of Amsterdam. It is situated in the 'IJ Lake' (IJ is pronounced as [eye]) and is being built on artificial islands which have been raised from the lake. (wikipedia) All parts of Amsterdam (Centrum, West, Zuid, Zuideramstel, Oost-Watergraafsmeer, Zuid-Oost, de Baarsjes, Bos en Lommer, Sloterdijk, Nieuw Sloten, Osdorp, Geuzenveld-Slotermeer, Noord, Zeeburg, IJburg) have their own financial budget.When I just started the job I heard that IJburg had decided to cut on the bussiness leave. We used to have 10 days a year, free to take.. Now we have.........nought, zero nada nothing!The other parts of Amsterdam still have their 10 days bussiness leave!! And, if teachers don't withdraw them they can cash those days (in the other parts of Amsterdam). Isn't that utterly unfair?!Well.. it turns out that the Educational Union has already agreed with the government upon cutting these bussiness leave days. They sneakily agreed that schools could already inforce these new 'possibilities' (read: money cutting abilities). Our school, with brandnew teachers runs ahead of the new law. The new teachers will not complain much, simply because they don't want to be noticed by the office being difficult. So with no resistance at all we don't have those free bussiness leave days anymore!!!!!When the teachers of other parts of Amsterdam will find out next year, they might make a hubbub about it. However, they will be sent home with the message that other parts of Amsterdam already inforced the new law last year. Sneaky motherf*ckers!!! @$%*(^@It's like when they change the formula of a product. ->NEW! NEW! NEW! <- And the only thing that changes is the product becoming worse of quality.. Like cleaning products, to clean the house.. In the old days you had to use 1 cap for 10 liters of water. Later it became 2.. then 3, then NEW NEW it became 2 on 5 liters of water then 3, then they made the cap bigger...I don't like these sly tricks at all! Lately they are talking about making the job of teacher more appealing. They announced that our salary should be raised the coming years especialy in secundary schools.... I reckon the money is just out of our own pockets!!! In Dutch we say: it's like getting a cigar from your own stash....

Well, as a teacher I will not become rich anyway.....

WOW that is totally f**ked up I thought we american got screwed out of vacation time! you should come teach here in the US they got 3 MONTHS of vacation! Just look up individual states department of education and find out about hiring they do it often because of teacher shortage!

Wooow, you might not like what I am writing, but I always thought that Austrian teachers have some of the best conditions all over the world. But they for sure do not have ten "business leave days" that in case of not using them even will be paid! The Netherland's labour union must be even better than the Austrian one! So please understand that my pity is not too heavy although I understand that it is hard to get stripped of something you were used to have - especially if other neighborhoods are still enjoying these privileges!

Peace!

The teaching profession has always been under paid.........what else is new? I assume that they don't have any unions there in Ansterdam? Things always look a bit greener on the other side of the fence, as we would say...........

Yeah, plenty of green stuff in Netherlands

Paul> we have quite a lot of holidays, albeit not that much as in the USA I bet..

Kaunitz> maybe I shouldn't complain, but it's unfair compared with the other neighborhoods..

Asche> like Machiavelli ('il Principe') said: if you have to do nasty things as a government, do them at the start, do it swift and harsch if neccesary; people tend to forget about it if you give them some good things at the end of your time of government...

Sushi> endless lists indeed

Eddie> there are unions here, but al people in the unions become politicians later lol, therefor they ar such arse-lickers

Alex>sure sure, sabai mak! lol

oh honey that sucks really .. shall we set up our own school ? (j/k ) i understand how much you love your job as a teacher .. I wish all stuffs would change in better way.. you don't have to be rich , i already love u !! Muah muah!!