David and List: In a message dated 5/18/00 3:34:06 PM Pacific Daylight Time, ilvey@jps.net writes: (quoting Kent State's job descr. posted by Kerry Kean) << >PIANO TECHNICIAN >School of Music. Wage: $12.74. Personally, I find that insulting! As long as someone keeps accepting this "McDonald's" wages, Piano Technicians will barely above the janitor...I bet the janitor gets paid more! David I. >> David and list: I thought this was a typo at first, or that Kerry might explain in a later post. I know of one state college where the real life pay is commensurate with a respectable retail comparison, but the posted pay is that of an "Instructional Support Technician," which is in the ballpark of Kent State's posted pay. I wonder if Kerry didn't have an arrangement like that with the music chair. In the case I am familiar with, the tech submits a bill, and the dept administrative assistant submits appropriate paperwork (enough hours to pay for the service) so that the technician receives payment for his bill. Creative, but irregular. And I am not sure of what ripple effect there is, but it probably does not help the overall situation for CAUTs across the country. That is not Kerry's fault - indeed it is something which the piano technician community can address more effectively. Although the CAUTs in the PTG do not "organize" or tackle pay issues, we indirectly address the issues through our collegial activities. The more that both employed and contract university technicians work to better their specialized skills and knowledge and make this known to the universities, the greater the chance that we can influence the universities to properly compensate us. That is certainly one reason why I encourage participation this summer in the CAUT forum at the annual convention, as we review the Guidelines and discuss other timely and relevant issues - and as Ed Swenson and Gary Green provide excellent CAUT-related classes. Bill Shull CAUT committee member University of Redlands, La Sierra University, Riverside City College
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