A community of 30,000 US Transcriptionist serving Medical Transcription Industry

People are picketing for $15.00 per hour all over the US - So where do we fit in on this issue?

Posted: Apr 15, 2015

Saw yesterday and today where fast food workers and others are taking to the streets to protest their salaries, demanding $15.00 per hour. I know many of us make far below that and the thought crossed my mind, where do we fit in? Our work is so involved. We could go to any restaurant and wash dishes, serve hamburgers, could the fast food workers do the same on ours? We all know the answer to that. Talked with a guy yesterday whose wife retired from the department of transportation in our state. For years after her retirement she got 80% of her original salary (this was not a retirement fund) and he told me she also got a 3% raise on her income each year. Seems like the last time I had a raise was the early 2000s and that was when I worked in house. We are some underpaid, overworked, under appreciated people.

Sadly...SM - Old Anon

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the only thing we can really do is refuse to take jobs with low line rates (easier said than done) and ask for periodic line rate increased (like that's going to fly). The fewer US MTs who take these jobs, the result will probably be more work will be off-shored. I'm afraid they've got us over a barrel. The only saving grace (somewhat) is that some states have increased their minimum wage, so anyone who meets their MTSOs lph criteria and gets paid less than their state's minimum must be vigilant and make sure they ask that their pay be increased to the minimum wage for their state. Eventually, they may have to increase their pay rates to reflect this; but more than likely they'll increase their production requirement. Over a barrel again!

Also, MTs are more likely now - to be completely replaced by

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by technology. Unless the workers are completely replaced by robots, a FF place will always need a certain number of humans. More and more providers will edit their own work and MT will be mostly wiped out. Hopefully this will not happen completely in the next 5 years when I can retire.

Fast food places - This is what I think

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People deserve to make a living wage, but I don't agree with unskilled workers being paid more than skilled workers; burger flippers and dishwashers will be making more than MAs and CNAs, that hardly seems fair. FF was never meant to be someone's career. Some McDonald's drive-throughs are automated now, eliminating humans although they will need people to cook and clean. For people who don't think those costs get passed on to consumers, I live in a state that has the highest minimum wage in the US and it's expensive to eat fast food or eat in restaurants since people got raises, the establishments raised their prices accordingly. They will also cut staffing and won't hire full-time workers. I don't think it's fair that MTs make less but working on production pay is probably seen in a different light. I don't see MT ever being completely replaced by technology but that's just my opinion.

If the "unskilled" workers end up getting paid - more than "skilled" workers, it is -

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because the "unskilled" people took to the streets to make their wage demands known.

Do you think they did this without help? - Skilled office worker

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I can tell you that the labor unions are backing this campaign big time; they saw the opportunity to organize a group of workers and took advantage of it. Depending on what you think of labor unions makes a difference in how you view this, all I can say is that union organizers don't work for free and generally have hidden agendas. If the MTs want to organize and fight for better pay, someone needs to get the ball rolling because you are going to need to make the effort to make it happen. Wait and see what happens when employers are forced to pay minimum wage workers more and an oil change costs $75 and a burger at McDonalds is $10. Those costs get passed along to you and me, which is why a cup of coffee at Starbucks now costs $5.00. And, if you think burger flippers should make more tha CNAs and people with college degrees, your thinking is skewed.

Agreed. And since MT experience doesn't count - for much in finding another -sm-

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office job, many of us will be looking at fast food, retail, and other similar industries, even if only temporarily, until such time (if ever) that we find what some MTs deem a more "meaningful" job.

MT experience does count for much if you explain - It correctly on your resume

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How to do that has been explained here many times.

At the very least, you have the qualifications for many jobs in medical records, ward clerks, medical secretary, as well as outside medicine.

You can also apply what you know to learning a new career in coding. It will give you a considerable advantage in school and on the job.

Where do we stand? - hopeless

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Here I am worried unemployed and worried about how I am going to pay my bills at the end of the month. I am a recent grad, unable to find work because, as you know, most companies want MTs with experience, and to make matters worse, I got an email from my school asking me to pay for a refresher course by getting deeper into debt. How insensitive is that?
Before enrolling into the course, I had zero credit card debt. I used my credit card to pay for the training and buy all sorts of equipment (computer, software, books, 3 headsets, etc.) They all are sitting here, useless to me.
So, here is what I think about this business, we make every else rich (from training programs, to doctors, book makers and publishers, MTSOs, software developers) you name it, we make them rich and what's in it for us, a big fat nothing.
The refresher course is supposed to help me pass employment tests, but the last test I took, I got 47 out of 50. I received a polite email from the company saying that the test score was not enough; they needed experience.
What I need right now is a job so I can eat and pay my bills. I feel like an idiot.

You are NOT an idiot and not hopeless. - Stop that.

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My heart aches for what you're going through. I hate the companies that reel in all of these good people like yourself, with lies about the big bucks an MT will make after graduating from their courses. All of those companies should be sued for fraud. They KNOW there are very few (or no) jobs for newbies in this field. The companies that hire newbies either pay really, really low or they have a bad reputation (like Nuance and M-Modal). But please don't feel that there's anything wrong with YOU. There is not. You're an honest human being who thought you were making a good investment in what you were told was a lucrative career.

Maybe others on this board will give you some ideas for companies that hire newbies OTHER than Nuance and M-Modal.

I'll be saying a prayer that something good will turn up for you.

You signed hopeless. Did you read these boards - prior to taking training

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Had you been in training for awhile, just how did you decide to start this profession? The observation here has been now and for years and years about the decline in this type of work. This job is like so many jobs, you have to have experience before landing a ? good job.

What school was that? - Sounds like a scam.

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Nm

MT grad - anon

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I am so sorry this has happened to you. Did your training course tell you up front that you would be able to move into a job? Did it guarantee any leads? I only ask because all of us on this board were here once, needing a job, couldn't get a job without experience, couldn't get experience unless we got a job! And yes, the field is declining and has been for several years. However, I took a course from Medical Transcription A-Z over 15 years ago. Great company, great owner, great course. The golden key was that upon completion/graduation, I received a reference letter from the company, since I not only had course work, but many, many tapes (yes, real cassette tapes, back in the day) of actual dictation. The letter of reference truthfully stated that I completed transcription for their company in a timely manner, etc. etc.,and that letter was what got my foot in the door many years ago. I have never been without a job since that time. True, most of the jobs and the pay today are horrible, but I have managed to eke out a living and pay my bills because that training course had my back from the very start. Please hang in there, because us oldies are all giving up and I anticipate there will be a lot of room for newbies in the very near future.

Why the blanket statement, us oldies are - all giving up?

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I have found you can only speak for yourself. I am up in my 70s and have no plans for retirement - yet.

What's age got to do with it? - proudmary

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I didn't mean oldies with regard to age. I mean oldies with regard to just having been in this profession for a while. I know a 20-year MT who is not even 40 years old. It didn't have anything to do with chronlogical age, just had to do with how long one has been in this particular field. It also didn't refer to retirement. There are a lot of MTs out there, all ages, who are "giving up," i.e., leaving the profession, but are nowhere near retirement age. They are looking for other types of work, and are leaving because of numerous reasons not at all related to age or to retirement. For that matter, someone might decide to enter the field at 60 or 70 or 80 years of age. Age and/or retirement had nothing to do with my reply to the "new" grad (who, by the way, could be any age at all).

My bad. - N/M

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.

People deserve a decent wage - cindy

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The truth is that we deserve to have a higher minimum wage. I recently had to get a job at a grocery store in the bakery because I lost my MT job and there was nothing else. I will tell you that job was so hard, you don't get to sit at all, unless you take your 15 minute break. Lifting heavy boxes of dough, lifting heavy trays with the dough put on it. I worked there for almost 3 weeks and everyday my whole body ached from this very physical job. I for one agree the people that do this kind of work should get paid more. They do some hard work with terrible working conditions. But we all should get paid more in that case.

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