A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry
Revolt/Unionize - FrustratedMT
Posted: Apr 15, 2012
I have been an MT over 5 years now. I started out, straight from my local community college, at a whopping $0.05 a "Word" line.  But it was something to get my foot in the door. Then I was lucky enough to get hired on with a local, large, multi specialty group that paid by digital minute. My teacher in school had always told me that this was a horrible way to get paid, but it was a great opportunity and a great job! I did this till last year when the doctors decided they wanted to try to type their own reports.  After hunting for a job for a long time that met my requirements (namely, not IC, with benefits), I snagged an MTSO job.  Of course it pays per line.... But they also do some SR work.  When I was hired I was told it was minimal, but now I'm findingmorels the majority. At the end of the day I find that while I would have made a full days wages had I been on digital minute pay, somehow I've only accrued a fraction of that in per-line pay. Don't get me wrong, I know that it all depends on the account, the doctor, and lots of other variables. But when I was on digital minute, I made around $32 K a year doing the bare minimum of what was required of me.  If I do the bare minimum at the new job, I'll barely break $18K. Now, I'm planning on doing more than the minimum, but from talking with some of the older MT's that have been here a while, they can barely meet the minimums on the SR work.  So... My question is this.  When do we revolt?  When do we form a union that isn't AHDI, but one that goes to bat for us, telling these companies that their Speech Recognition software is NOT a replacement for us, but rather a tool to help us.  When doctors and MT's went from tapes to digital handhelds and eventually to the phone... When we went from typewriters to word processors to full-on computers... When we went from utilizing books as reference to software and the Internet... Did they cut our pay in half? I understand that this software is expensive.  It was even sold to many facilities as something that would "replace your MT staff and save you millions of dollars" (my local hospital let's all of their radiology reports be transcribed soley by SR, with NO editing. He scary is that?) ... But it's a TOOL! So, it's no wonder that these huge companies that make this stuff or have the biggest contracts are able to gobble up the smaller companies? I mean, if you suddenly paid your employees half of what they used to get paid, wouldn't you have more money in the bank to expand? This software (and related hardware) is no different a cost to them than new computer systems, new imaging systems or exam tables... etc.  They shouldn't reduce our wages because some software is helping us.  Did they reduce our wages when word expanders came along? No! This should be our finally deserved and worked for raise! You know, the one that many of you haven't seen in more than 10 years! So, isn't it time we revolt? We strike? We do SOMETHING? I think it's time! (Sorry for any grammar or other errors.  I'm typing this in deep frustration, in bed (sick), on my iPad!)
Revolt/Unionize - LindaOz
[ In Reply To ..]When SR was created it was sold to the doctors and hospital as something that would replace their MTs. They didn't understand that EMR can only replace our hands, not our brains, and it takes brains to do the job correctly. Thus, they need editors, which came as a big surprise to the providers. They are not decreasing our wages. Services are allowing providers to dictate what they feel it should cost to pay an editor. the same providers that thought they could replace our brains are wondering why we can't "just read the text" twice as fast as you can transcribe it so why not make half as much". Again, they do not understand the big picture or what is entailed in editing.
I became an IC in 1987 and charged my doctor clients the going rate, .10 cents per GROSS line. AAMT, in their infinite wisdom, came along and decided to reduce our wages by 30% by making the character line standard. Now we are mostly dependent on working for services who pay a fraction of what they charge for our services.
Unfortunately our willingness to continue taking pay cuts decade after decade allows them to get away with it.
Back in the 90's I figured that if our rates had increased the same percentage as health care had increased in cost, we would be making about .25 cents per line.
I don't know if unionization is the answer, but in this day and age of the Internet, I think a national strike for a percentage increase in pay might work. I don't think there is any way this could work unless we all did it together.
I think you are both off the mark - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]I say this and I understand my parents were die-hard union fans.
It is not the responsibility of a union to get you where you want to be. It is yours.
If you fail to wrap your brain around the fact that clients WILL NOT pay for the benefits you feel you deserve, that is your problem, not theirs. If you fail to wrap your head around the technology that got us to this point and will be taking into the future, that is your problem, not theirs.
Unions are stuck in the past. If that is where you chose to live, that is your problem. How do you adapt to the changing global environment? Now there is a brain tickler for you.
To be continued...(but only after much weeping and nashing of teeth in biblical proportions)...
that's right, unions worked before technology allowed global hire. companies - would thumb their noses at us and never look back
[ In Reply To ..].
Wrong - global unions for global companies - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]yeah, it's an old idea that got trashed (thank you egomaniacal soviets) way back when - with totalitarian ambition and no respect for rule of law - but you got global capital, you have to have global unions. It's not impossible. If they (management) can do it, so can workers.
thought you got out of this industry a ways back. - what happened there?
[ In Reply To ..].
Unions are the wave of the future - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]No brain tickler there - it's simple, international unions to fight back against international capital.
It's the oldest story in the book. Nothing new here - and nothing dead.
LOL! good one - I'll pass that on to postal workers, for sure. - NM
[ In Reply To ..].
shhh, don't tell the governers they can sign laws to hurt unions - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]Now here are some facts for you, not opinions:
Maine Gov signs bill eliminating union:
http://www.foodmanufacturing.com/news/2012/04/maine-governor-signs-bill-eliminating-unions-egg-farm
Indiana Gov: Businesses support your right to work for less:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/09/10076963-indiana-governor-businesses-support-your-right-to-work-for-less
try opening a history book... - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]concentration of wealth and trying to basically enslave people, is the oldest story ever, on any continent. Take your pick. Any time period. Same thing happens over and over. A certain concentration of wealth and power is NOT sustainable, would be nice to avoid the inevitable political outcomes - crack open a history book.
honey....this is a global, technical world now. - HUGE stopper. NM
[ In Reply To ..].
look at the big picture, long haul - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]it's not sustainable to keep driving wages down - at a certain point, you end up with political upheaval, if it's hitting enough people hard enough. Tilt to the left then. Pendulum. Long haul.
and you proved my point about 2030 :) - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]You're so concentrated on looking behind you that you are not looking ahead. Do you keep up with current events? Do you get news feeds, read the paper? Take a look a Europe, specifically Greece. Look at the Euro and what is playing out there. Do a Google search for the article about global economical collapse by 2030.
On the one hand, you want us to take care of it ourselves. In another post, you want us to join our Indian brethren to establish a global union to pull us out of it. Do a Google on that very topic and see the hundreds of links. Think they haven't already thought about it and are poised to share their "good fortune" with us? You really do need to catch up on current events.
You are blind and refuse to see.
Off the mark? - FrustratedMT
[ In Reply To ..]The definition of a union is to join together. So, yes, it is OUR responsibility, but alone we cannot accomplish this. Change will only happen if we make it happen, but that requires more than one voice! I understand that the time of unions has passed, but what do you think AAMT (now AHDI, and a joke, if you ask me) started for? To standardize the field, both in text (with the BOS and such) and with the character line. Granted, it might not be looked back on as something good, but it created an even playing field. Something to build off of.
I don't have a problem wrapping my brain around anything, especially the fact that providers don't want to shell out cash! I was laid off and was unemployed for more than 8 months last year because my employer decided that they no longer wanted to spend the cash on MT's. They wanted to type it themselves... after all, if those "housewives can do it, why can't we?" (a direct quote from one of the physicians). What they forget is why the position of MT ever came about. Because the more time spent typing and formatting and worrying about JCAHO rules, the less time they have to see patients and the less money in their pockets.
The real problem is the people that SOLD them this software... and all the lofty promises they made.
But the fact of the matter is that we are a skilled trade. Many of us have certifications (which, again, was something created by AAMT/AHDI and gave a point of reference)... yet we are making less than the high-school-age barista at Starbucks... or the Subway sandwich maker.
Don't even get me started on how many companies are breaking the law (or making some very large loop holes to jump through) hiring only I.C.
And it insults me that you say, "you FEEL you deserve." I don't FEEL I deserve anything. I do deserve it. We all do.
I got into this field because 2 surgeons made a terrible mistake that left me disabled. I cannot stand for more than a few minutes at a time. Sitting is pretty hard, and I barely make it through an 8-hour day without lying down every second I can. I can't work in a traditional office for various reasons, not limited to the lack of being able to lie down or the additional time a commute would add to my sitting up... . So, this is just about the only field where I am able to work from home and have the flexibility I need to survive. But when I'm making less than what I would get in disability, something I was approved for once but found a way out of that. Right now I'm barely making more than what I received in unemployment while trying to find a new job! And as you can imagine, I have to have health insurance... so I.C. work it out of the question.
The point I'm trying to make is that, alone, I cannot make the changes we all want to see. Together we can make a difference, but we need organization. I am not living in the past, and am quite fondly looking at where the future will take us. Yes, one day we won't be needed... even as editors. But until then, we have a right to be paid fairly and treated well!
ah, now I better understand - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]First I want to tell you that I am very sorry about your disability. That is a terrible way to spend your life and I wish good things for you.
I think you are looking outwardly for others to fix your problem. I can emphathize with your efforts, but in reality, I believe your efforts will not bear fruit.
Let me share that a person very much responsible for DND being the power horse of VR that it is today was a disabled person working from home. I greatly admire the courage and inventiveness that person has shown over the years. There is another product or two on the MT market today that I thank that person for developing. That person got assistance from the state's department of rehabilitation and reinvented his/her life. I greatly admire that person's self-sufficiency and resourcefulness.
I hold up that person as a model for you to give you courage and belief that you can do anything you want.
well, maybe not start a union, but anything else :)
One of today's reality is that even the president of the AHDI has gone on public record to encourage MTs to have a back-up plan outside MT for employment. We might as well have a gravestone engraved with nothing left to fill in but the date of death of MT now. Even if I believed unions were a viable option for any industry, I would not believe it is one for the MT industry.
I would encourage you to contact the department of rehabilitation in your state for training options to find a sustainable income. Best wishes to you.
you used AHDI as an example of unionization.. - sm
[ In Reply To ..]And look where that left us. Unions are ONLY about how much money they can get NOT about the worker, which is why unions are DEAD. Coming from experience with being in a union as well as hubby's experience in a union, it is NOT what you want. Waste of money and time. Again, they do NOT care about us. Once you experience it, you will see!
You're exactly right, don't worry about the naysayers. - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]unions CAN'T die - because as long as there are people getting screwed over, there will be people thinking, organizing, strategizing, failing AND succeeding!!!!!
Think internationally - who's the US MT's best ally - the Indian MT.
unions - reality
[ In Reply To ..]This is silly. Yes, unions are on their way out. I know because I was in a large union and my sister is currently a union rep in another large union. If you want MTs to be unionized, it would have to happen under the umbrella of a much larger union.
Everyone is just resisting change and technology. Has no-one seen this coming? How could one not? This industry as we know it IS on its way out and, as SR grows better, so are MTs. Having some delusion of a "global" union or otherwise is simply grandiose thinking when one does not want to change and accept reality.
We are not victims.
there is a telecommuter's union - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]Unions are not on the way out. It's NOT about the technology, or resisting it. It's about resisting being exploited by other HUMAN BEINGS - which have not changed in how long?
Right, so even if we go to another job - same thing's going to happen OR IS HAPPENING. Seen any graphs on the distribution of wealth lately - in this country or around the world? Unions are necessary and of the future.
Technology is changing... - AnonToo
[ In Reply To ..]But does that mean quality of reports, patient's private information, and transcriptionists themselves should be compromised? I don't particular love working with SR as much as I thought so for *me* I will be changing. If this was 10 years ago I probably would stick it out IF companies paid a living wage for doing a REASONABLE amount of work. I feel that paying 0.03-0.05 a line is ridiculous for SR.
However, that said it is in all industries. I don't know if a union per se is the answer. But for example at my husband's company about 3 years ago EVERYONE took a PERMANENT 20-50% pay cut. This is a company of over 50,000 people nationwide. The kicker? The international people had protection and their pay could not be touched. The other kicker? Profits were up. Now the CIO took his 20% cut off his salary (which I believe was $1 million), but not off his bonuses which were $25 million that year...so I'm sorry that $200K was missing...not.
Again, I don't know what the answer is but blaming people for not being able to do 2-3 times more work for 1/2 the pay is just ridiculous.
Correction - AnonToo
[ In Reply To ..]DH's company has nearly 100K employees in the US at the time of the pay cuts.
wow, AnonToo, that was insightful - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]You also bring up a good point.
Global economy. It is predicted by a major think tank that the global economy will collapse by the year 2030. That is only 18 years away! This confirmed the findings that predicted the same thing some years earlier. It is not just the MT world that is dying. The way we live simply does not support the organization and implimentation of a union in this global economy. One MTSO closed a center in India and those employess posted on this board that it was an illegal action by the MTSO (as sanctioned by their government). The MTSOs who opened facilities in India (and perhaps elsewhere) had to obtain permission from the government to develop, and I am absolutely sure if pushed into a corner, it would be the US facilities that would close.
The time for unions for the US MT is over.
Never even thought that far - AnonToo
[ In Reply To ..]But yeah I see those points too. I am not pro or antiunion particularly, although I remember when my husband had to work on some servers in Newark. He wasn't allowed up to the tower unless the union worker pushed the up button to the elevator, so he sat around 1 hour waiting for him (I would think this would be a fire issue since the guy was at lunch no one is ALLOWED to push it apparently but him?). Then because of how that union is set up he couldn't unplug the servers, they have a union guy called, 20 minutes later he comes and unplugs everything. Then when they need it plugged in they have to wait and have everything plugged back in. A job that here would have taken him 2 hours took an 8 hour day AND an overnight stay because of the way the union workers have set it up. I really thought it was insane you have to have someone TAKE you up in an elevator (he has clearance for this in all the other airports he supports EVEN in Brazil he doesn't require an escort in the airport) and then someone has to plug and unplug electrical things? Ridiculous.
OTOH a girlfriend of mine has been a grocery store worker all of her life, granted her husband makes the majority of the money, but without a union she'd be paid crap.
Ideally I'd like a living wage for all jobs, but Westerners don't want to pay more for their cell phones, their food, etc., etc., which would change if things were changed. I am probably rambling, but I also don't think there are enough transcriptionists who exist and let alone enough who would get behind unionizing. I plan on leaving eventually completely. After 20 years I'm just done, not to say I'm angry or if the pay was better I'd stay I probably wouldn't even if it doubled. But I'm in a good position financially to say that compared to how I was 20 years ago.
Wrong, just opinions... - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]should nurses not have unions? should teachers and firefighters not have unions? I think they should. I think most people should be in unions. As an employee, that is the ONLY WAY you have any leverage when it comes to working conditions and pay.
Every argument people make for unions dying, is actually an argument for a resurgence of unions.
Opinions - Unions
[ In Reply To ..]WMJ, have you ever been in a union? I am not anti-union, but I will tell you what happens in unions. I kill myself working while the person next to me sleeping. Good wages, sure. Less people, definitely. I see your posts a lot and think a lot of it is mere opinion and then the deciding factor is: have a nice day. LOL
look at the big picture - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]all these anecdotes are nice, but you know, you can track wages in the US quite nicely with union membership.
nurses are not replaced by technology or off shore - just a thought NM
[ In Reply To ..].
Not going to revolt - Anonyomous
[ In Reply To ..]For every story like yours, there is one like mine. I've been an MT for over 30 years, got my first job in acute care fresh out of school, I got paid $1.90 an hour. I worked my way up the ladder and had several MT jobs. I've been with my current employer for more than 15 years, working on site. I've been paid per digital minute and hourly, I make great money and have wonderful benefits, and I'm not union. We went to VR and a point and click EHR system almost 2 years ago. VR didn't work out for the providers because there were too many mistakes and it was too time consuming, so we are transcribing, the work is still there. Not to burst your bubble, but employers don't hand out raises unless you EARN them. Some years, we don't get cost of living raises if the facility has a bad year financially, so wake up and smell the coffee. Someone like you with only 5 years of experience should be thankful to have a job at all instead of threatening to "revolt" against your employer. Excuse me, but WTF? In any other profession, behavior and talk like this would get you fired.
Good grief...you are an exception - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]and the reason your wonderful experience is the exception, not the rule, is because of declining union membership over the decades - everything thinking, I've got it good, what do I need a union for?
Grateful - Reality
[ In Reply To ..]I have to ask WMJ, you have claimed to be "leaving this industry," but have been here for awhile. With all of your insight, why wait until now?
Good grief - Anonymous
[ In Reply To ..]My guess is that there are more people in my situation than you realize, they just don't post in this forum. I'm not getting into the union discussion with you except to say that I've worked in facilities where organizers have been on the premises and it was very disruptive and upsetting. I know I'm lucky to work where I do and I know it could disappear, there no such thing as "job security" any more, even a union won't provide that. What I don't understand about all of this is why you guys think your employers "owe" you these things just because you are MTs. I'm assuming that many of you went to work for MTSOs by choice because you wanted to work at home. Back in the day, I had co-workers who left because the grass was greener on the other side of the fence, found out it wasn't and then couldn't come back because we weren't hiring. I never wanted to work at home so that was always in my favor. My point is that you have a choice. If your employer doesn't meet your expectations, find another one or change jobs and don't tell me it isn't possible. The only thing keeping you in your present situation is you, don't expect your employer to bend to your will because you throw a tantrum and threaten to "revolt."
well said, Anonymous. Totally agree. - anon2
[ In Reply To ..]/
Your story is the exception in 2012 - SM
[ In Reply To ..]As a 30 year transcriptionist you should know how much the medical industry has changed since you began your career. You are fortunate to still work on site, appear to work for a medical facility and not a transcription company, and also had the good fortune of VR not working for your facility's providers.
My guess is all your equipment is provided and you have excellent pay, benefits, etc. There are many 30 year transcriptionists who would love to be in your shoes. Your work scenario is not typical for either a new transcriptionist or a seasoned transcriptionist in 2012.
It is her opinion - Really
[ In Reply To ..]Annonymous: I think it is really sad that a 30 year transcriptionist responds to a poster as you did. Your choice of words in the second to last sentence was totally unprofessional
To Anonymous - see message
[ In Reply To ..]You work **for** a hospital. Big difference. I know because I worked for one 14yrs up until a year ago when we were outsourced.
We were paid by the hour and got incentive just for meeting production and passing annual adits. I made $18 an hour on top of an additional $500 dollars in incentive per pay check. We had great insurance. We had EMR and typed transcribed directly into it.
Radiology was voice recognition and there were a select few who edited those reports in our dept. Our ER dept and physician's offices were on a point and click system. But we still had plenty of work.
Yet another healthcare system came along, took over the hospital and we became a part of their health network. All of their other hospitals in the network had been outsourced for years so in order to cut costs and make things uniform, they decided to outsource our transcription dept as well.
I said all that to say this - You have no idea what these women on this board are going through until you end up in their shoes. I never knew anything about this board or what it was like to work for a company until I was forced into it.
When you tell someone that: "someone like you with only 5yrs experience should be thankful to have a job" that really comes off as cruel, everyone has to start out somewhere and remember there was a time when you and I only had "5yrs experience."
I am now one of these MTs who work for a company and I feel their pain. They do need a raise, they need to be paid what they are worth.
As far as the union thing and the revolting stuff, I dont know anything about all of that so cannot say if I agree or disagree, but I will say this - What I see is a bunch of MTs hurting, and trying to find a solution.
Response to Not going to revolt - FrustratedMT
[ In Reply To ..]Did you have to walk to work in the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways when you first started as an MT? Or did you have to handwrite your reports?
This is the kind of childish behavior I see when I read your response. You do not know my whole backstory. Yes, I've only been in this profession for 5 years, but I'm not a spring chicken. I was FORCED into a career change (with just about every dream I had for my life crushed) thanks to 2 doctors. I spoke about it in another response in the main thread.
So, yes, I"m extremely thankful to have a job. But let me just say, I hope you've planned your retirement well because your ivory tower will topple just like the rest of them! Actually, your job sounds exactly like the one I was laid off from last year, with fellow transcriptionists that had worked there 15-20 years as well. And as far as raises go, they hadn't seen one in over 8 years!
I don't expect a raise to be handed out to me. I have earned every single one in my life. I've taken a few pay cuts as well (never based on performance)...
But do me a favor... take a moment and ask yourself what you would do if you found yourself suddenly unemployed, not yet at retirement age, looking for another MT job. Imagine learning that there are NO (ZERO) local clinics or hospitals hiring (mainly because they outsource their work, or the transcriptionists currently there know how good they have it and aren't leaving). So, you have to get a job with an MTSO. You learn that despite your length of experience in the field, you start at what everyone starts out at... say, $0.08 a line. But that's for typing. Editing they pay half that. So then you start working and find that there are very few straight transcription jobs out there, so you are doing mostly SR work. Only, all the doctors are ESL doctors and the SR system cannot understand them. Only, the SR system MUST put something, even if it's completely wrong. So you spend more time fixing the errors. You begin to just straight type the reports thinking that will help. Only, now you're getting paid half what you would normally get for straight typing. Oh... and the MTSO you were hired on with has set schedules... so if you haven't met your lines in the 8 hours, you can't continue working till you get what you need. No. You have to log off the system and call it a day. But before you log off, you check your line counts for the day... only to realize that somehow in a full 8 hour day, because you did SR all day and were really typing all the reports over, somehow you only did 500 lines the entire day. That's $20! But over the course of 8 hours... you realize you just made $2.50 an hour!
So... Anonymous... when the day does come that your employment ends with your current employer... I hope that someone like me has lobbied and gotten employers to pay a bit better than they currently do...
THIS is why I wrote this post.
In response to your last sentence... It's not just other professions that behavior and talk like this would get me fired... I'm sure if I sent out a mass e-mail to my coworkers that I would be sent a pink-slip faster than you can say goodbye! But that's the beauty of this board. It is a place we can come to laugh, to cry, to vent our frustrations, and to work out problems!
To everyone else out there getting more than $0.05 CPL for SR, $0.08 for straight transcription, being paid by the digital minute, or even hourly... Take a minute to see what realistic options there are for you should your current employment end. Then see if you aren't shocked and appalled at what you find.
shocked and appalled - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]I don't need to know your whole background. What I end up knowing is that 5 or more years ago you chose a profession to invest in that you seem to only now realize may have been a poorly made decision. You refer to having been forced into the decision of being an MT by 2 doctors, but how that came to be escapes me.
As to any one of us facing retirement, well, it is may be as bleak as yours or completely different. No one knows our future. I dare say that no transcriptionist has seen a pay raise in the last 20 years, so please let your friends know they are in good company. You say you are extremely thankful to have a job, yet you started this thread eluding to the need for revolting and unionization, so forgive me if I don't follow that logic.
Your further question asks: "what you would do if you found yourself suddenly unemployed, not yet at retirement age, looking for another MT job."
To answer that, I would have to analyze where it is I am in my life and consider whether or not MT is the profession I wish to remain in or if something else is a better fit. I think everyone should ask this based on their need and stance in life. If I am not able to adequately transcribe/edit ESL and found myself in need of a set schedule or unset schedule, I would find a position that fit my skill set and lifestyle need within the MT community or outside of it. I would certainly never subject myself myself or my family to an income of $2.50 an hour. That's just craziness (unless I lived in India)! Yes, that day came and went some 4 or more years ago for me, but they don't refer to me as Anonymous. If you lobbied for me, sad to say, you let me down.
Here is where I absolutely agree with you: I took a look at my current employer and the style of life I wanted/needed to support. I agreed it was not worthy of me and I found something else that was. Another MTSO. Perhaps outside of the MT world. Yay me!! I have absolute faith that if you believe the deal you have is non disserving, you will do that as well!! Whether you stay in a highly volatile field or whether you drive a school bus with extremely well paying benefits, you deserve to find the best fit for you.
I have complete faith, OP, that you will find your feet and come out in your retirement years having done well :)
Thank you for posting...keeping laying it on the line - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]There's a truth, and you just spoke it. Thank you.
revolt- ing - me
[ In Reply To ..]Sigh. More. Again. Boo-hoo is you.
Saying "If I were being paid by the digital minute" is an absurd premise. Anyone could say, "If I were being paid $300 an hour, I'd be happy." (Although I venture to guess some of you would not be.)
A union is not going to help you. How do you think it will? Instead of making what you do now, you'd be paying union dues (which is not a small amount of money). All you would be doing is layering another layer between you and your money.
And given there is no starting point for MTs, no minimum education requirements, no one set job description, no one standard place to be working, etc, good luck thinking you'd standardize all of it.
The job is now what it is. Don't take a job that pays less than you can live on. Don't deal with companies that want to call you a contractor and treat you like an employee. Don't fudge a time sheet. Just don't do it.
This might mean you have to find a job in another field if you're unable to find the ones that are worth working for, but at least you'd be doing something practical, logical, and worth your time.
If all jobs are going down the tubes... - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]then how does it help to find another job? It doesn't - you're only making a horizontal move - from one bad job to the other.
not necessarily - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]Like the revolt - ing poster, I stayed away from the bad sources of income and have managed to make a nice deal for myself, not taking another bad job to replace the one I had.
I remember in 1996 when offshoring to India was just a whisper. Lots of people said, don't worry, it won't effect us in a large way. There will always been a need for good MTs and good money to be made. By 2000 there was a collective panic. This year's panic is called Epic. Unions cannot control the effect of technology.
Let's take a look at the fact that there is no union in place. We are talking about forming a union on an anonymous website being promoted by an anonymous person with a singular agenda who cannot look forward, only behind her. Until and unless someone puts some action by telling people here is the website to visit with the names and locations of the individuals who will help form a union, well, the efforts on this board are impotent.
Minorities & Majorities... - SM... SPEED SUCKER
[ In Reply To ..]For every MINORITY fortunate poster that is sitting in an MT well-padded cushioned spot of "Well, my position is "nice" and "I worked my way up the ladder from $1.90 an hour to walking 20 miles barefoot in the snow just to have a job" -rags-to-riches stories - To the NOW epidemic MAJORITY MTs in the bone-crushing spots of poverty wages never before seen in the industry, which is NOW the unfortunate and MAJORITY fact.
It is not an individual MTs reponsibility to overturn the industry's overwhelming majority consensus of what the wages have become. Such analogies border on absurd. Similar to; we should be grateful for being able to type in limited clothing, almost nothing, because we are at HOME, at least we don't have to buy a wardrobe! Failing to note, affording some clothes would be nice to go to the store in.
Whether it be a Union, MTs striking, HIM Civil War, Picketers in their best-pressed birthday suits (wardrobe afforded on an average MT wage) marching in front of software earwigs - headquarters M*Modal & Nuance. Remember, it's their software used nationwide by monopolizing MTSOs pac-munching up HMO contracts in their piecemeal-archaic platforms doling out the unacceptable labor rates.
It matters not what eradicates the poverty labor wages, so long as it's eradicated. PERIOD. IMO.
Let us not forget the need to be compliant with Federal laws - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]That have contributed to the current MT industry. Having to purchase and maintain evolving technology to keep up with laws that come in stages (therefore having to upgrade several times in short periods of time) is expensive.
Are YOU paying for it? Yes, actually you are in decreased salary. If you do not look at ALL the reasons for the state of today's MT industy, then I suggest taking your head out of the sand.
to unions are dead: look in the mirror and tell me who's head is in the sand - just the facts
[ In Reply To ..]The facts are that 2 giant companies are now trying to set the market for our salaries. If we do nothing then we deserve what we get. I would RATHER give it to a union then help these giant creepy companies...My vote!!
.... and please take your head out of the sand.
Most likely going with a union will not work as many in this forum seem to by into all this mtso manager jargon that is being put out!
to unions are dead: if we follow your mtso manager jargon we all will lose and die! - managers included
[ In Reply To ..]we need unions badly in this country for all those concerned...end story!
thanks for the chuckle :) - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]Lesse, I use mtso manager jargon because:
I know how to Google and find recent events regarding unions and governers.
I know how to look at both sides of the issues.
I know how to stick to the topic rather than sling hash...or disappear as it seems someone else in this thread seems to have done.
Meanwhile I sit in my chair waiting for my laundry to finish drying so I can go run some errands. Now THAT does not sound very managerial. LOL!
Google? Try opening a history book - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]It's not sustainable, to have such an imbalance in power/wealth. So what will we have, violence? Maybe the South will try to secede again. Yeah, just what I want for the future *sarcasm*
someone likes to get nasty when not getting her own way - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]Good luck with increasing the swells of followers you seem to collect :)
BTW Just a passing thought - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]I'm pretty sure my memory of the movie Norma Rae did not include a union organizer who was insulting to his audience. Honey works much better than vinegar.
wheres - you don't know that for a fact, so you cannot reliably say that and - now I cannot put much into anything you come up wi
[ In Reply To ..]that's how it works, at least for me. You lost my vote.
bad choices - revolt-ing
[ In Reply To ..]If you are consistently making bad job choices, then you not only need to step back and reevaluate, but you might want to engage a career counselor. I've made good choices with MT. I refuse low wages. Won't work as a misclassified person. Result - happy me, happy MTSO, happy bank account. Imagine that, I did it all without a union.
what are you talking about, I have a great MTSO/job - huh?
[ In Reply To ..]I just commented on aother comment made without facts but on assumptions.
WMJ: How about a career change? - Anonymous
[ In Reply To ..]No message
I remember a ways back she said she was 'getting out.' - I guess she went into politics. NM
[ In Reply To ..].
Reality - Powerlessness
[ In Reply To ..]I think this is the undertone of all these threads full of "we need this.." "we can take control.." blah blah. No union, salary nor company is going to give one power. That is an inside job.
Well said, well said - NM - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]
If unions are so dead... - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]why do you keep responding to "a dead issue?" Guess it's not so dead in your mind after all :)
I like the banter? - Unions Are Dead
[ In Reply To ..]or maybe I really belive that unions are dead :)
If you really believed that... - wheres_my_job
[ In Reply To ..]...unions were dead, you wouldn't waste any time or energy on "banter" about it. I don't waste my time arguing with someone over whether the earth is flat, 'cause I know it's not. If people believe something so patently false, there's nothing I could say to convince them.
And yet, here you've been, engaging with people you consider on the level of "flat earth-ers." The fact is, you WANT unions to be "dead," not that you truly believe they ARE "dead."
can you moive to the politics board and stop stuffing - this down our throats constantly?
[ In Reply To ..]x
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