[CAUT] Piano juries on concert instruments

[Jeff Tanner]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Israel Stein" <custos3 at comcast.net>

> Jeff,
>
> I don't work for the School of Music and Dance. I work for a central 
> service department, called Creative Arts Technical Services (CATS) that 
> provides technical services to the component schools of the College of 
> Creative Arts - Music and Dance, Theater, Fine Arts, Design, Broadcast & 
> Electronic Communications, etc. So my boss is in charge of all the 
> technicians who serve these departments (stage techs, electricians, 
> electronics guys, piano techs, etc.) and the Music people have no 
> jurisdiction over me - anything over and above the routine they want has 
> to go through the CATS office and be paid for. In practice what happens is 
> that my boss (who came up through the ranks as a stage electrician) 
> essentially protects me from any additional demands made by the Music 
> people, because he will charge them an extra fee for my services that are 
> outside the routine - such as tunings outside regular working hours - 
> because that's how all technical services are provided, on an 
> inter-departmental fee basis. And if I cannot provide service due to lack 
> of access - it's the not his (CATS director's) problem and therefore not 
> mine either. If they want service, they need to allow access, during 
> working hours (or pay for overtime) - those are the CATS service terms. 
> The only reason there are issues is because I want to accomplish something 
> there - not just go through the motions and collect a check. If I just 
> wanted to be a clock puncher, I wouldn't be doing this work...  Because my 
> direct supervisor is a Director-level administrator who is not part of the 
> School of Music and Dance,  I am protected from any such shenanigans by 
> interdepartmental politics. My boss protects me as part of protecting his 
> turf. However there is a possibility that this new Dean may decide to 
> abolish CATS as a cost saving measure and move all the technicians under 
> the direct supervision of the various schools' Directors. In such a case I 
> may very well consider quitting...
>
> Israel

I understood that your boss is not affiliated with the music department. I 
would be 100% in favor of every CAUT situation in the country not answering 
directly to music admin, but to a similar type of situation as what you 
have.  Just like service departments in dealerships shouldn't answer to 
sales staff, maintenence people shouldn't answer directly to anyone who 
doesn't really understand maintenance.
Jeff