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Re: Techwriters of the World: Unite!

Subject: Re: Techwriters of the World: Unite!
From: Jo Francis Byrd <jbyrd -at- byrdwrites -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2001 17:22:46 -0500

We are definitely getting squeezed on rates. I saw one posting REQUIRING the moon, and if you walked on water and were a sainthood candidate, they MIGHT cough up $30/hour. On a 1099. I hope the phone remains silent, but someone will be either stupid enough or desperate enough to take it, I have no doubt.

I just lost out on one contract because I refused to go any lower than I already had - and I'd already compromised on my rate. I may have to do so, yet, but I can hold out a little longer.

Jo Byrd

tgr -at- lanminds -dot- com wrote:

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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References:
Techwriters of the World: Unite!: From: tgr

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