tuning and teaching

[Jeff Tanner]

Wim wrote:
>You would think so. But then why are there still some administrators out
>there that seem to think taking care of 60 pianos is a "part time job,"
>paying only a part time salary, expecting the tech to make up the
>difference in outside tunings?
>
>Wim
>



Or 125 pianos?

This would be my response to Wim's original post.  For those of you like
Wim, who perform full-time (40ish hour/week) duties as technician, then go
do 15 or more hours of outside work a week, AND teach, AND etc... to make
ends meet make it difficult for the rest of us to get a professional salary
for what should be a normal full time work week.  I realize the original
post had to do with performing 2 part time duties, but remember, part
timers don't get the same benefits (why do you think there are very few
full-time positions at Wal-Mart, the wealthiest company in the world?), and
besides, after a while, they'll start expecting more and more for the same
compensation.

Look, if you'll let 'em keep on piling on the workload without increasing
your compensation accordingly, I guarantee they won't lose any sleep over
you.  It only takes a handful of folks being willing to do something to
start a trend that administrators notice -- sort of like these
self-check-outs we're seeing in Kmart and grocery stores.  Starts out as a
novelty, but the intention is to cut jobs and take more and more money out
of circulation and put it in the pockets of the most wealthy where it'll
never do a bit of good for the economy.  (I refuse to use those
self-checkouts for that very reason.)

When I was growing up, it only took my Dad's regular full time blue-collar
salary to support a family and also put away savings and retirement, and
provide health coverage (yeah, those little bennie-thingies they blackmail
us with today).  Here, I'm barely making more than he was 20 years ago,
while the cost of living has gone up at least 3 fold -- maybe 5 fold when
you consider that large city cost of living is much, much higher than back
home.  Yeah, he occasionally worked overtime, but the money he made for
that was "gravy".  Our overtime is the "rice".

An institutional piano technician should be just as respected in terms of
compensation as any other private sector employee with similar skills, and
we shouldn't have to work 60+ hours a week trying to come close to what
others are able to achieve in 40.

Jeff


Jeff Tanner
Piano Technician
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
(803)-777-4392 (phone)