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Fast-food workers demanding $15 per hour plus benefits - me

Posted: Dec 08, 2012

Did anybody read the article on Yahoo news regarding fast food workers demanding $15 per hour and benefits? We do not make that sometimes and we have an education plus extensive training and for us ICs a lot of overhead.

I do not deem fast food work a career but a job you work while in high school for extra spending money in your pocket......

This was all over cable news. Believe it or not, - there are many workers SM

[ In Reply To ..]
who are not teenagers who do consider this more than extra spending money. I saw a few interviews, one single mom who was 29 years old, etc.

I do have to say I wish there was a way to get attention to our industry. I believe we are in a different category than fast food workers, restaurant workers, etc. This is a KNOWLEDGE job and requires training and experience to do it well. It is not mindless work and requires special skills. It's like we are invisible, no one knows about us or what we do.

Exactly my thoughts.. - me

[ In Reply To ..]
Most people seem to have the idea that we sit around in pajamas eating bon bons all day thanks to all the advertisements for MT schools that went out several years ago. I was already in school when those came out, and they were plastered on just about every telephone pole in our neighborhood. In fact, my own husband did not give me much credit until he recently had to type up his resume (thought I would teach him a lesson) He screamed and cursed for over 8 hours and afterwards told me just how smart I was after fixing the formatting for him, stating I could make a fortune typing up resumes. Haha. He still does not grasp the medical end and deciphering some of the dictation that comes in..... Heck, if fast food jobs provided healthcare benefits and paid $15 per hour, I would be the first in line applying for a job. The cost of healthcare is killing me.

And he would be second in line. He is a mover and warehouse manager (or was a manager until he got laid off almost 5 years ago. He moves heavy furniture all day at different sites all over California and does not get paid what the fast food workers think they are worth. Honestly, I know other educated people who do not get that high of pay or benefits..... You can just imagine the cost of fast food if that ever happens too, as the costs will be put on the consumer and not the companies themselves.

The only trouble is... - educated people

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all over the world can do our jobs remotely (even though we may not have a very high opinion of many of them). A lot of knowledge jobs were able to be offshored and done cheaper due to technology.

If they start making this wage - see message - Anonymous

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The restaurants will not be able to stay in business as they will have to raise their prices in order to pay salaries. It will be cheaper to dine in a nice restaurant than it will to go for fast food.

That would probably be a good thing! haha! Still, the - price of a Big Mac, etc. has gone - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
up, yet the size of the burger has shrunk. Same for all the others. I no longer consider it worth the price, and I no longer eat at fast-food restaurants. When I'm traveling, I pack my own lunch. Considering the profit these companies are making, and how little bang for their buck the customers are getting, and how hard those fast-food employees have to work, not to mention the cost of living (or school!), they deserve at LEAST that.

Your race to the bottom is the wrong way! - .

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I made $25 an hour doing MT until 6 years ago when I slid down the outsource/VR/outsourced more slide. I so agree with you. You have no idea. I have been here for 22 years and I'm one of the stunned, highly trained/educated group who is breath taken at the current landscape. Where do I apply my skill? Absolutely no one is impressed with a CMT or an MT anymore. At. all. Its over.

Where do you apply your skill? - Suggestion

[ In Reply To ..]
There are many jobs in health information management where you can use your skills!

You have considerable knowledge of medical record documentation. You also have a foundation in A&P, medical language, pharmacology, and healthcare in general. That knowledge can be applied to informatics, coding, medical records, and clinical documentation improvement.

Other MTs have made the move into these areas and are doing fine.

It might be over for MT, but it is NOT over for those other fields. Those other fields, in fact, are expanding.

I moved on and now make well over $25 an hour in a stable job where I am respected far more than I was as an MT.

You have to make the decision to do something positive about your career. Doing it sooner is going to be better than doing it later, too. I keep seeing MTs who are making next to nothing staying in their miserable jobs for reasons I cannot fathom.

Investigate those fields and start learning SOMETHING. If you're short of cash, then find a free resource on the internet and learn it that way.

The entire health informatics initiative course set that the government funded is available FREE on the internet. Try starting with that while you figure out what to do.

See message - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
They might not be impressed with MT or CMT any more, but they may be impressed with your other background like analytical skills, attention to detail and work ethic. I'm not sure anyone was ever very impressed with the CMT credential but that's my personal opinion. Many MTs are successfully making the transition to health informatics and health information technology, some are going into coding. Maybe you would want to do something non-clerical after 22 years. I did MT for 35 years and was forced to make a change when I got laid off. I can truthfully say that it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me as it gout me out of my comfort zone and made me realize that employers still think I'm a valuable worker. I don't ever see the fast food wage thing happening, employers will fight that tooth and nail. When you said "it's over," I hope you were only referring to MT as we know it.

I wish these MTSOs would have the decency to lay us off instead of browbeating us to death. - FBL

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If I had unemployment to at least subsist on, I could afford to pay for COBRA while I find/train/get past waiting period for benefits with something else.

Whoa - Anonymous

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I don't know if a person can subsist on unemployment, it generally only pays about 50% of a person's wage and is not meant to take the place of a job. I couldn't afford COBRA and doubt if you will be able to while drawing UE, mine was $600 a month. My advice would be to train while you are still employed. Getting laid off was no fun and definitely not worth having happen to you in order to escape a job that you hate; my entire department was let go, I had been there almost 20 years. I never had to drawn unemployment as I was fortunate to find something else right away - health information tech for the facility where I used to work. Also, I had been looking for a long time. I think you'd be happier working than you would subsiding on unemployment, it does nothing for a person's self worth.

At least on UE, you're no longer shackled to your PC, - and you have the time to do - sm

[ In Reply To ..]
more extensive job-hunting, rather than just during NJA periods, or in the wee hours of the morning before you drag yourself to bed.

If I were to get laid off, I would also have time to do the odd job here and there (for CASH), that would get me by.

The MTSOs have it well figured out: Make as much money off us as they can, while they're forcing us out by paying less than minimum wage. Then justify offshoring, (and most likely avoiding any future penalties the government might impose [ha! I WISH!] for offshoring, by claiming "there are no American workers available for this job." And finally, avoiding having to pay UE by forcing us to quit, rather than firing us or laying us off.

MTSOs are the Mafia of the healthcare industry.

No one outside of MT is the slightest bit interested in - our skills, or potential to learn new ones.

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THAT is what's getting increasingly scary and frustrating as I search every day (so far fruitlessly) for another way to support myself.

No one in ANY field is interested in that! - See msg

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With the numbers of highly qualified applicants ALL job have due to unemployment being so high, employers can be very choosy. Right now, they are choosing not to hire people who need training.

MTs should not expect to be hired on the basis of "potential" and skills the employer cannot use. They need to get some training somehow in relevant skills, whether college or YouTube.

You can't walk in saying "I'm sure I can do this job...give me a chance." You have to say "This is what I did to learn this job...let me show you what I learned."

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