We desperately need a UNION! I've thought it for years. SM - LoriMT

I was reading the posts below from the complainers complaining about the complainers, and I cannot believe there are so many deluded and ignorant MTs out there who believe that 3 cpl for VR and 8 cpl for transcription is a fair wage --- NO, not just a fair wage, they actually think it's something to sing about!

When I started in this profession over 20 years ago, medical transcriptionists were a well respected part of the HIM team.  I earned $13 per hour back in the late 1980s!  Fast forward to 2010, I'm still making right around $13 per hour and I'm working three times a hard or harder.  Plus groceries are more expensive, fuel for my car is more expensive, my house payment is triple what I paid in rent as a single gal back in the late 80s, and the price of my utilities has tripled.

When I worked directly for the hospital, we received yearly evaluations and raises based on our skills and job performance.  We also received cost of living raises periodically throughout the year.  Human Resources would routinely evaluate the current cost of living, the average salary for an MT in our part of the country, and compensate us accordingly if necessary.

Since my hospital outsourced the MT department and I have worked for the MTSO, I have NEVER received a raise -- going on five years now.  Let me repeat, NO RAISE IN 5 YEARS!! 

Wal-Mart gives their people at least yearly wages.  The local grocery stores gives their people yearly wages.  Why should MTs be satisfied with no raises EVER?!?!!?

I make 9 cpl for actual transcription work which is actually above average for the industry or so I'm told.  Basically, if I transcribe an average of 1200 lines a day, I'm making what I made 20+ years ago.  Except there's a new wrinkle, voice recognition.  Nevermind that the skill level required for VR is no different than that for transcription, we still have to take a pay cut because it's "easier."  Yep, easier.  News flash, the VR platform that I have to use produces the most laughable reports I have ever read in my life.  With the amount of editing required after the speech engines is finished, I might as well have typed the entire report myself.  And even if I double my line count to 2400 a day, I'm still only making $9 an hour.  It's a joke and I'm not laughing.  One guess who is laughing  ---  the MTSOs all the way to the bank!

And yet according to some of the posters below, I'm supposed to be appreciative that I have a job, love my job, be my job because it is the greatest freaking job there is because I get to look like a slob and save gas.  Well excuse me, but the cons far outweigh the pros. 

Not only have we lost money over the years, we have lost our dignity.  That's not okay with me.  So we need a union.  We need to take control of our industry.  We need to have enough self-respect to realize that medical transcription is a highly skilled profession and this needs to be recognized by the MTSOs.  We should be compensated for the skills we possess.  Medical transcription is a crucial part of the HIM team.  Without the reports we generate, coders cannot do their jobs.  If we did not make sense out of the mumbling, sometimes incoherent dictation and generate a professional and technical document, the coders would not/could not be able to assign the codes necessary for the hospital to bill for payment.

Why are we not compensated for our expertise?  Why should we accept any less than what we deserve?  And why on God's green earth should we be happy about being undervalued and disrespected?

WAKE UP!  We are working in a pink collar ghetto and there is absolutely nothing "HAPPY" about it!