Jeff, I agree it is much easier said than done. I was responding to the question of politics, meaning (at least to me) knowing who to keep happy, which battles are yours and which will be fought for you/with you by your colleagues (faculty), etc. It doesn't matter how many technicians are on staff, keeping the right faculty members happy is paramount to a technician's success. I agree that as a general rule schools are understaffed, including us. Most of us have the protection of the FLSA. When we are required to work more than 40 hours/week, we are to be compensated either in pay or time off. One technician or two, the rules are the same. Perhaps your position was exempt, if so, it should have been with a huge wage increase. As for vacation and sick time. Faculty and administration need to be educated to the point that they understand you have a life as well. I am aware that some faculty will never get it, we have one pianist like that here. He doesn't understand what he is asking in terms of time and funding. I'm hoping he will come around in the future. Luckily, the rest are very supportive and understand our limits. It all goes back to my original premise - "if they appreciate you, they will be strong advocates..." This is why I attend periodic faculty meetings, especially the keyboard area meetings. It allows me to speak to them as a colleague, instead of that staff guy who tunes the pianos. More importantly, it gives me a chance to enroll them in my plans to better support them in their mission. I understand that some schools are a no win situation for a technician. My point is if you want to make it better, it's got to happen with the support of the faculty. Without them, you will fight a losing battle. It is then when you have to make a choice, do I stay and work in an impossible situation, or do I leave and keep my sanity. ________________________ Rick Florence Senior Piano Technician Arizona State University School of Music -----Original Message----- From: caut-bounces at ptg.org on behalf of Jeff Tanner Sent: Sat 6/28/2008 8:25 AM To: College and University Technicians Subject: Re: [CAUT] School Politics (Re: LSU SOM position) Rick Florence wrote: "Evan, I can sum up institutional politics in one sentence. Keep the faculty happy, especially the keyboard folks. If they are not happy, you're life will be miserable, if they appreciate you, they will be strong advocates for everything from budgets to travel for continued education." Now Rick, That is very much oversimplified. In reality, this is MUCH easier said than done, especially when there is only one tech position, regardless of how many or how few pianos there are. You've got a second position there who can cover for you while you're out moonlighting to make up for the insufficient salary or taking your vacation time on the lake, right? Activity doesn't stop at the school pretty much year round, and as long as there is only one staff position, there is nobody to cover for you if you get sick, down in the back, want to take your vacation time or have to make extra money, and young, ambitious faculty aren't very patient with that. But if you have two positions, regardless of whether you have 40 pianos or 400, you at least have someone to cover when one of you has to be gone. Even when you have holiday leave - Thanksgiving or Christmas - faculty are doing recordings at the school because that's the only time they can book the hall for such. While they might agree to compensate you for the one or two tunings you do for them, they pretty much expect YOU to do it and give up that trip to spend Christmas or Thanksgiving with family. Then, there's the annual piano festival that conflicts with that continued education... Being one tech in a situation is tough. I don't recommend it for anyone, ESPECIALLY if you have, or are planning to start, a family. College work is a great training ground for honing your skills. But it is no means of providing a living. Jeff -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 4906 bytes Desc: not available Url : https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/caut.php/attachments/20080628/0a90b08a/attachment.bin
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