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Subject:Re: Tech writers' salaries From:"Tony G. Rocco" <trocco -at- NAVIS -dot- COM> Date:Wed, 2 Oct 1996 08:32:45 -0800
I have no sympathy at all for employers being made to pay high wages to
technical writers. A few years ago, during George Bush'es depression, a lot
of tech writers were fighting for few jobs. I spoke to a California East
Bay company (God knows if it's the same one as Susan Gallagher's) about a
contract position for which I was asking the paltry rate of $25 per hour.
The hiring manager said her higher-ups felt that that rate was too high.
They told her that with the market as glutted as it was with tech writers,
they should have no trouble finding someone for around *half* that rate.
That's right, they decided they would try paying around $12 per hour for a
tech writer. Needless to say, I wouldn't work for so little money. I could
get the same wage working as a Kelly girl.
The moral of the story is: Employers will exploit any opportunity to pay
lower wages. I think that tech writers should be equally inclined to
exploit any opportunity to increase their wages.
