[CAUT] Louisiana State SOM Position

[Paul T Williams]

Doug,

Do you work 80 hours/week?  Does UW approve of this?  how can you keep up 
with all those pianos at UW??  Where's your family time?  I realize that 
you have another tech on the job, but, man, how do you do it?

pw



Douglas Wood <dew2 at u.washington.edu> 
Sent by: caut-bounces at ptg.org
06/25/2008 04:06 PM
Please respond to
College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>


To
College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
cc

Subject
Re: [CAUT] Louisiana State SOM Position






I'd like to add a few words. I still have a private business that brings 
in several times the amount the University currently pays. When I took on 
the position, I asked my tax person--a CPA "enrolled", who specializes is 
small businesses--about how to compare business income and salary. As has 
been pointed out here, it is not a simple matter. But he said it was 
actually a very good comparison to look at the "adjusted gross income" 
figure, bottom line, first page of the 1040, to compare with the stated 
salary of the position. After mulling it over the last 5 years, I have to 
agree with him.

Unfortunately, it confirms that the salaries are more often than not an 
insult to our profession. What to do about that is a subject for another 
post.

But I will say that I have taken the position, and remain in it for a long 
list of reasons. If any one of them changed in a significant way, I would 
most likely resign, and go back to spending less time at work for more 
money.

The biggest single source of lack of power in this institution is the fear 
about being able to get health insurance. Not its cost, its availability. 
I do hope that we will wake up to the reality that our system is failing 
us very badly and do something about it.

Doug


On Jun 17, 2008, at 11:23 AM, Porritt, David wrote:

Jeff:
 
I was gently trying to mention that you should not categorize all college 
jobs as the same.  If the situation at USC  is as you describe then you 
are right to leave and lodge a protest.  I’m just saying not all jobs are 
like it is at USC.  My pay suits me, the benefits are very good, I work 
37.5 hours a week and have plenty of vacation and holiday time paid. 
 
You said: “I don't mean to pick on Dave and I really do rebutt his 
response with all due respect, but his post epitomizes why university 
salaries are what they are.  University positions are being taken 
primarily by either singles or empty nesters who don't require as much 
income.  That mischaracterizes the market for our skill.”  Jeff, this is
 the “Market” at work.  We all go for the positions that have the benefits 
we want.  No one gets it all.  If high income is your goal you have to 
find the positions, jobs or careers that offer that.  Everyone can choose 
the job they want, or the pay they want, but not both.  This choice is 
always a compromise between many criteria.  That’s free enterprise at 
work.  When I was younger, more energetic and less experienced I worked 
hard as an independent tech.  I made good money and handled it well.  Now 
I’m old (68) and less energetic but more experienced so I’m doing what I 
do now – happily. 
 
I hope you can find the right situation – a satifying nitch in our 
profession that pays well so that when you’re my age you don’t have 
regrets.
 
dave
 
David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu
 
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jeff 
Tanner
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:54 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Louisiana State SOM Position
 
Yes.  I think that is being a doormat.
 
First of all, I did NOT quit in anger.  I finally gave up the fight and my 
colleages across the country who are content with less were no help.  I 
quit because I was basically told that the only way to get change is to be 
the catalyst for it.  I quit because the carrot being dangled out there 
kept moving farther and farther away.  When I'd catch up to it and ask for 
the reward, the carrot moved again.
 
As employees, it is encumbent upon each one of us to insist on salaries 
that are more reflective of the value of what we do, because it affects 
everyone else who pursues this work.  Yes, if we just accept what they 
want to offer and be happy with it, that's being a doormat, as a 
collective whole, because we owe it to our colleagues elsewhere to help 
support their earnings ability.  Our profession is quite unique in this 
way. We are so isolated and job openings occur relatively infrequently 
compared to other professions and so we must band together in some way to 
benefit the whole.  We are as strong as our weakest link, and as long as 
we have qualified technicians who accept lower salaries because they don't 
share the same perspective on economic issues, then we are a weak chain.
 
Different perspective on economic issues?  Either we have a market or we 
don't.  If we are going to market our profession as one that earns a good 
living (see the PTG brochure on becoming a piano technician), it is 
incumbent upon us to support that, even if we do not require it 
ourselves.  Just because one person can live on a lower salary is not the 
reason to accept it.  There are others who depend on our profession to 
actually earn a living.  The reason Wim's son, the CPA makes half a 
million is because other CPAs have worked to increase the market value of 
their profession.  If other CPA's just said, "I'm at a point in life I can 
live on $50K," then that's what that market would evolve towards.  In the 
private sector, if we have a market of technicians who have built their 
businesses based on a certain tuning fee, and you have new people move 
into the market tuning for half price, in a climate where the costs of 
everything else continues to go up, that is an example of how people in 
your own profession are cutting their own throats. 
 
I really don't hear from my self-employed friends who stay busy full time 
that they'd like to increase their workload and earn half of what their 
making.  Many of our colleages would like to do a college job, but see the 
pay as degrading to their skill level and hard work.  These college jobs 
keep coming open over and over and over not because we have different 
perspectives on economic issues, but because the work requires twice the 
effort for half the pay.
 
If the trade offs were equitable, I could agree with you.  But after the 
trade-offs, we're still 10's of thousands apart (about $30K or so).  Wim's 
example was misleading because it didn't figure in the costs to the 
employee, nor the tax advantages of being self-employed.
 
As I said, I left my position, in part, for the benefit of the 
profession.  The next person who comes here will enjoy a higher salary 
band.  Yes, I'm frustrated that they made no effort to do that for me, but 
it was made fairly clear that the only way that change could be made was 
if I turned in my resignation.  That's just the way the system works.  I 
suppose I could reapply for the position, but I've put too much effort 
into creating something for me to land on when I resigned that I can't go 
back now.
 
I remember well the pressures of a house payment, kids in school, etc. and 
I’m glad I’ve lived past that. 
 
Not all the rest of us are financially independent.  You must have gotten 
to that point during your years you speak of as a self-employed tech.  If 
I'd stayed on at the university, we'd never have lived past that.  You 
imply that you are "past" a house payment.  Our was getting bigger because 
of the insufficiency of the salary.  I don't know your age, but I know 
that the costs of basic necessities compared to earnings is not what it 
was even 20 years ago.  There was no way we could have continued, and I 
know how to live cheap.
 
My take-home is not as great as my former gross receipts as an independent 
tech, but somehow I’m living as well or better. 
 
Well, you must have gotten everything paid for as a self-employed tech 
before you switched to being an employee.
 
If anything, because of that inequity alone, we owe it to the next 
generation of piano technicians to do our part to support the market for 
their work.  If we approach it with, "I can live cheaper now", that is 
letting our next generation down, let alone those across the country who'd 
like to be able to pay their bills now.
 
These university positions are unique jobs and they clearly are not for 
everyone but some of us weirdos are pretty happy doing it. 
 
It sounds obvious that you'd like to keep it that way.
 
I suppose if we worked to get the salaries up, we might have some 
competition for our jobs.
 
I don't mean to pick on Dave and I really do rebutt his response with all 
due respect, but his post epitomizes why university salaries are what they 
are.  University positions are being taken primarily by either singles or 
empty nesters who don't require as much income.  That mischaracterizes the 
market for our skill.  It undermines the CAUT committee's efforts 
to establish a CAUT endorsement and creates a model that makes it 
impossible for those of us who are family breadwinners to be able to fit 
in.
 
If that is the collective will of the incumbents in these positions, then 
that is fine. But rather than wasting the CAUT committee's time on 
creating an endorsement that should have the effect of improving earnings, 
let's just put out a statement that says that "Full Time college 
technician positions are not intended for people who want to work hard and 
improve their skills and earn a good salary.  They are for people who 
don't require much money to live."
Jeff
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Porritt, David
To: College and University Technicians
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 11:29 AM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Louisiana State SOM Position
 
Jeff:
 
I hope you’re not saying that those of us who are happy with what we are 
doing, and have a different perspective on economic issues, and are aware 
of whatever trade-offs are involved and don’t quit in anger are doormats.  
I remember well the pressures of a house payment, kids in school, etc. and 
I’m glad I’ve lived past that.  SMU has an excellent retirement program (I 
contribute 5%, they contribute 10%) I have good health benefits, I work 
with great musicians who are also delightful human beings, I perceive that 
I am appreciated and my last raise confirms it.  My take-home is not as 
great as my former gross receipts as an independent tech, but somehow I’m 
living as well or better. 
 
I’m really glad you’ve made the decision to leave USC as it’s been obvious 
that you have been unhappy for a long time.  These university positions 
are unique jobs and they clearly are not for everyone but some of us 
weirdos are pretty happy doing it.  I hope your independent business picks 
up quickly and that you earn the lifestyle you want and need.
 
dave
 
David M. Porritt, RPT
dporritt at smu.edu
 
From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of Jeff 
Tanner
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 9:52 AM
To: College and University Technicians
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Louisiana State SOM Position
 
Yes, I became bitter over time as I realized I'd been lied to and misled 
about the future.  I was committed to the university and there was no 
reciprocal commitment. That will make anyone bitter. But if it paid enough 
to live on and there had been a commitment from the administration for a 
real program of maintenance beyond telling the guy they hired to just work 
harder, I would have been quite happy to stay there on and on.
 
But the point is, the earnings situation around the country isn't going to 
get any better until we start standing up for ourselves.  As long as we 
are doormats, that is how we will be treated. If we want to change it, it 
starts with us.  So, that's what I did.
 
If you don't want to see change, just keep on with the status quo.
Jeff
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Willem Blees
To: caut at ptg.org
Sent: Monday, June 16, 2008 9:02 PM
Subject: Re: [CAUT] Louisiana State SOM Position
 
Jeff

I'm sorry you are so bitter about your job at USC, and I hope you find 
what you're looking for. 

Peace
Wim

Doug Wood

School of Music
University of Washington


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