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

Unionization? Any progress? - XTR

Posted: Oct 22, 2010

I unchained myself from my oar long enough to ask generally if anyone has made any inroads into unionizing our industry. With another payday here and seeing my pay go down as quickly as my line counts go up, I have to ask. Other workforces would not stand for the way we are financially treated, maybe we could team up with one of them, like a nurses' union or something. Any ideas?

Union - Beth

[ In Reply To ..]
If doing that, would that not run the risk of more outsorcing?

Unionization? - XTR

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I'm sure that's a real danger. But if a unionization effort were teamed up with a government effort to keep people's confidential information inside this country, it could still work. Also I think offshoring has not worked out as well as they hoped across the board, quality and reliability issues and so forth. I really think we have some good cards to play.

Be careful - Terry

[ In Reply To ..]
You need to be careful. Just because you create a union does not mean you get more money. In fact, I have seen just the opposite in other industries. The other poster is very correct in saying this would create more outsourcing overseas. I think there are a lot of happy MT's out there that this could really hurt. Remember, these are just my opinions. Nothing personal.

Union - XTR

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You're right about that, it would have to be carefully done. There are unions out there that quite frankly not worth squat that do more for the union itself than its members, so yeah, caution is definitely indicated.

Union - Terry

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You never know maybe it will help.

Please, No Union - MT

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Please, no unions. You are at their mercy. You do realize that if they go on strike (which they love doing), you have to go on strike. That is not freedom. Can't "cross a picket line" if you choose to work anyway. Sorry Charlie. I'm not wanting to be a slave. Things stink in this industry, but at least you are free to do as you choose.

Unions - Mt2

[ In Reply To ..]
Have no place in MT.

You can't get MTs to agree on where to put a comma, so getting them to agree on a union is laughable.

You don't need a union. You need to learn to negotiate your own contracts and not settle for less than you want.

Unions will not make money available that simply is NOT available in healthcare. We're a COST period.

You have MTs in offices, hospitals, clinics, at home, as employees, owner/ICs, big MTSOs, employee but really ICs.

Nope, not even a good idea and if it was it just is not a feasible idea.

Valid points - Flip flopper

[ In Reply To ..]
I tend to flip-flop on the subject of a union, but you have enough valid points to sway me towards "no," especially MTs being scattered about. Also, how many MTs would be willing to pay union dues? Sure, a union *might* be able to increase pay, but then you have to toss some back to the union. Is it really worth it?

That's Correct - MT

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Unions initially started out as a good thing to avoid slave labor, but they've become a bunch of dictators, in my opinion, and they have no place in a free country.

I agree with MT2 - Anonymous

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This comes up every few months. I understand why you think you might want a union but I want to know:
1. How are you going to get the MTSOs to come on board, become union shops and meet the union demands? They have access to cheap labor overseas now and will continue to use it.

2. Some of us, believe it or not, are still happily transcribing on site for employers who pay them well and treat them well. I work for a large outpatient facility; the entire place would have to join the union so that everyone could benefit. I've worked in the past where union organizers were trying to unsuccessfully worm their way in and it was not a happy thing. I don't know if you realize that union dues are expensive and would cancel out any salary increases you think you are getting. Even if people have the option of not joining the union, they are still required to make a "contribution" to the cause. Sorry, but I wouldn't want to go there at this stage in my career.

Hey, other workforces ARE being treated the same way. - Start by Voting Smart!

[ In Reply To ..]
That's extremely important to realize. I strongly suspect times in general are moving toward another big era of unionization, and/or other profound systemic change. Things are getting that bad for too many in our very wealthy nation. The middle class is shrinking and poorer than it used to be, many members of the working class have slid into poverty, and upward mobility...just isn't very mobile any more.

But the time is not right for us to try to unionize now. Not when providers for the first time ever have a choice of eliminating us altogether. Not when two of the hospitals I work on have declared bankruptcy.

Let the economy recover in general, let the healthcare industry get on its feet, let's see if our industry has decided it will still need our services, and then maybe we'll all become part of the wave we need.

Good news is that collective action is going to be tremendously easier to achieve now, courtesy of modern communications, compared to the past when people had to gather together physically, both to communicate with each other and to take action. The severe limitations imposed by geography are gone.

Of course, that goes both ways. Computer strikebreakers wouldn't have to be trucked in, and a national government controlled by business interests could call collective action a threat to national security and close our websites down.

But, hey, when was anything this important easy? We have an important election coming up.

I recommend starting to help ourselves by voting for people who genuinely believe that our country must have large, strong, prosperous middle and working classes. Ignore the candidates' slogans and look at their histories.

Have to agree with your last sentence. - But

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If you do go by the histories of those running for office, NONE of them are worth a hill of beans. They're the reason we have the need for profound systemic change in the first place. Government is so broken on all sides that it's hard to believe any of them can make a difference. Even if there are 10 or 20 who sincerely want to make a change, they're up against the 1000s that want status quo because of what's in it for them.

Voting smart? Every voter is voting blind.

Look at their histories? How do you trust a history of a candidate? If you base it on what we have now, that's a pretty poor history. If it's a new candidate, they don't have a history, only slogans.

I don't really agree, -BUT. We aren't blind, just sometimes lazy, and - (It is about taking care of ourselves.)

[ In Reply To ..]
it's not so much our governmental system that's broken--it's our very corrupted election process. The systems themselves have been rolling along for well over 200 years.

Our BIG problem is that almost every candidate has to sell out to special interests to be elected in the first place, so they come into office representing the people who bought them, instead of the people who voted for them.

That's how the laws regarding forming unions got changed to make it so difficult--big business wanted that. (Good news is that right now there is a bill in Congress to remove some of the roadblocks that have been constructed specifically to keep us from taking collective action. Do your senator and congressman support it?)

That said, many candidates are well meaning and competent, but handicapped by those special interest chains around their necks. Some are dumb as a bag of rocks, though, and others are ignorant as...well, some of the candidates showing up on national TV every night. Some are totallly cynical self aggrandizers. Weeding time!

There are a whole bunch of good nonpartisan organizations that research state and national candidates and post their findings on line so we can use them to make wise decisions. Major newspapers always post some pretty reliable information at election time. Almost all are on line now. Some others to start:

Politifact.com's truth-o-meter to check candidates' claims (winner of 2009 Pulitzer). Are your candidates telling you what you need to know or trying to make a fool of you?

VoteSmart.org for info on candidates. Very well regarded site.

FollowTheMoney.org for state candidates.

FactCheck.org

The League of Women Voters offers a list of nonpartisan sites. Google to find others addressing your particularly important issues. Healthcare. Religion. Chicken processing in Alabama.

Google questions, but check the sites very carefully. Many that come up right at the tops of searches are very dirty. Those top positions are for sale, and many of them have been bought by organizations determined to win by any means.

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