Techwriters of the World: Unite!

[tgr -at- lanminds -dot- com]

I wanted to share something with my comrades in tech writing arms. I 
just got off the phone with a recruiter who presented me, a 
senior-level technical writer, MA, who has been earning $65 - 70 an 
hour W2 for more than the last year, with a tech writing contract 
opportunity for a piddling $42 an hour on a 1099 basis. I was tempted 
to take the job at first because it allowed off-site work, but the 
insult and degradation got the better of me. Geez, a poor wage AND 
the employer isn't even willing to pick up the cost of social 
security!

I told the recruiter that not only was the hourly wage an 
abomination, but that I would be doing all my fellow tech writers a 
disservice by cooperating with miserly employers who want to take 
advantage of hard economic times to pay us substandard wages. I don't 
fault anyone for doing what they have to to make a living - I have to 
pay a mortgage, too - but I urge all my tech writing comrades not to 
accept employment at wages that enable employers to devalue our work. 
In the long run, we will all suffer for it.

Sincerely,

Tony
--
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