Canada has MT union lowest pay $23 hr

Wow 7 cents and then also the exchange rate, I forget what my MT email friend said it was.  Gad you are making zip per hour.  Glad you are happy with it.  Not me. My friend has some of her own accounts and charges $20 and hour.

Oh well, guess you are happy.  She is unhappy with %20 an hour.

• SoftScript interview turned down - .
  • dsauverwald went back and repread. - .
  • softscript - typing for dollars
    • Current SoftScript employee - dsauverwald
      • I wonder if referring to 2 separate post?s - .
        • 2 posts - dsauverwald
          • who asks for other employee rate?, nobody. - .
            • Dsauverwald doesn't strike me as an MT anyway... - odd
              • Let's stop here before we go down the path of personal attacks. NM - Moderator
                • That's pretty far from a personal attack.... have you seen - ???
                  • MT - dsauverwald
      • 8 cpl as an IC is horrible for any MT with experience. - sm
        • you don't say how long you have been sm - MT30+
          • That's why I said it's - sm
            • I'm doing it for not much more than that. - CynicalMT
              • 9 cpl as an IC doing clinic notes vs. 8 cpl is - SM
                • Line Rate - dsauverwald
                  • I think you're missing what I'm saying. - sm
                    • IC Status - Employee - dsauverwald
                      • Canada has MT union lowest pay $23 hr - .
                        • Canada MT - dsauverwald

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Also, I saw an ad for them for $12.50/hour. It seems they are leading the charge to push down MT salaries.  

In addition, they do not pay based on experience.  My 25+ years in acute care teaching hospitals in EVERY specialty counted for nothing.

BTW, when I changed jobs, I spent exactly FIVE reports on full QA and then was turned loose, immediately meeting their daily requirements. So I think Spheris is a better fit for those with very little experience and needing heavy QA. They must pay MTs so little because they have big overhead with QA.

I have a friend in Toronto, and we were talking about me trying to do some work for them (they pay 18 cents per line!) but wasn't sure how complicated it would be taxwise.

Thanks. 

nm

I have been looking for an MT Employee job for a couple of months and I have noticed that more and more job opportunities are asking for Independent Contractors rather than Employees.  Out of the hundreds of MTSOs out there, I could only count less than 2 dozen MTSOs who offer employee status. 

Between off-shoring to India and VR, it has almost become impossible for a single MT to make enough to pay the mortgage, etc.  Medical Transcription is becoming a secondary employment in two-worker households.  If some of the MTSOs who hire ICs would admit that they are actually hiring employees and treat them as such, MTs might have a better chance of getting paid what they are worth.  With less than 2 dozen MTSOs offering employee status, they can pretty much set their wages and we are stuck with it if we want any benefits at all.  They are on the verge of almost a type of price-fixing or monopoly.  We need more employers to create more competition for the well-trained MTs looking for work. 

There is an ad for employment as an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR – Editor at $10.00 per hour.  After the Editor pays taxes and Medicare, etc (which can be 20 to 30%), they are actually working for less than minimum wage. 

I am interested in knowing if anyone would take a position for this wage and also if you think this is actually an Independent Contractor or really an employee. 

Below are the IRS guidelines for IC versus employee. 

I think if the IRS audits this company, the MT will be stuck dealing with the IRS for years to get their money back. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK?   Is this IC Editor job really IC or employee? 

Thanks. 

*****************************************************

In determining whether the person providing service is an employee or an independent contractor, all information that provides evidence of the degree of control and independence must be considered.

Facts that provide evidence of the degree of control and independence fall into three categories:

1.    Behavioral: Does the company control or have the right to control what the worker does and how the worker does his or her job?

2.    Financial: Are the business aspects of the worker’s job controlled by the payer? (these include things like how worker is paid, whether expenses are reimbursed, who provides tools/supplies, etc.)

3.    Type of Relationship: Are there written contracts or employee type benefits (i.e. pension plan, insurance, vacation pay, etc.)? Will the relationship continue and is the work performed a key aspect of the business?

Type of relationship refers to facts that show how the worker and business perceive their relationship to each other.

The factors, for the type of relationship between two parties, generally fall into the categories of:

·   Written contracts

·   Employee benefits

·   Permanency of the relationship

·   Services provided as key activity of the business

Written Contracts

Although a contract may state that the worker is an employee or an independent contractor, this is not sufficient to determine the worker’s status.  The IRS is not required to follow a contract stating that the worker is an independent contractor, responsible for paying his or her own self employment tax.  How the parties work together determines whether the worker is an employee or an independent contractor.

Employee Benefits

Employee benefits include things like insurance, pension plans, paid vacation, sick days, and disability insurance.  Businesses generally do not grant these benefits to independent contractors.  However, the lack of these types of benefits does not necessarily mean the worker is an independent contractor.

Permanency of the Relationship

If you hire a worker with the expectation that the relationship will continue indefinitely, rather than for a specific project or period, this is generally considered evidence that the intent was to create an employer-employee relationship.

Services Provided as Key Activity of the Business

If a worker provides services that are a key aspect of the business, it is more likely that the business will have the right to direct and control his or her activities.  This would indicate an employer-employee relationship.

After completing page 1 it flips to page 2 and asks you for to choose a State...obviously I'm in Canada (for which page 1 had that option).  I am hoping this did not screw up my application. 

I am very experienced so I am sure they would contact me...Checked out their web site and there is only a general inq # to call. 

Is anyone working with the Canada (Ontario) Division...is it all through US head office....any insight ?

I worked in a hospital where the transcriptionists were unionized, for some reason we were part of the United Steel Workers union (don't aske me what that has to do with healthcare).  It included all non-clinical employees of the hospital. 

If there was a way to do it, I would.  I am not a super hard nosed union type, but I know what the teacher's union here in our town has done for our teachers.  Not only that, but I am also one of those who are disabled and need to work from home.  If a union would protect that option as well as help promote MT as a solid work at home solution to many who can do this type of work from home instead of drawing disability, well, I am all for that.

Anne

You have an interesting viewpoint, Union Now.  At first I skimmed your post because I am not interested in a union and I tend to avoid the posts that proclaim that's what we need to do.  Then I went and re-read it and my second reaction (first being boredom and amusement at a couple of typos) was could you be any more condescending? 

I suppose you would consider me one of the GRATEFUL faction.   I am grateful that I have steady income and it's an income that can be as big or as little as I choose to make it.  Maybe that makes me naive in your eyes.  I lost a very well paying job of 4 1/2 years duration last year with about 2 months' notice.   My then-employer was a man who I had known for 30 years.  I had watched his kids for him when they were little.  This man used the phrase I'm throwing you all under rthe bus when he informed us that he was selling the agency and we may or may not be hired by the new administration.   I was at the mercy of a 57-year-old man having a mid-life crisis.  Now I make a decent wage that allows me to pay my mortgage and my bills and I have a very nice roof over my head.  And I know I can always find a job somewhere doing this kind of work.

My rambling, probably boring point is that I am indeed grateful to have employment and to have a steady income.   Is Voice Recognition the way of the future?  Very probably.  Is it going to put us out of work?  I don't think so.  Not unless they make those programs a whole lot better and not unless they magically make doctors and PAs slow down and enunciate.   We all know THAT ain't gonna happen.  

Why does it seem that so many people are entrenched in only one way of doing things?  Why does it seem that the refrain that I hear a lot is but this is the way we've always done it?  Just because that's the way something has always been done doesn't mean that it's the best way or the only way.

Personally, I think we sell ourselves short if we stay entrenched in the past and refuse to learn new technology and new technique.  We only end up hurting ourselves that way.  I don't think a union will do anything except force even more off shoring even faster.  You think hospitals are going to go union and pay higher union wages and benefits when they have options in India and the Phillipines?  Why do you think so much other American manufacturing and industry has gone overseas?   Unions, my friend.  Unions.   They served their part in the past.  They served a very good part in the past.  I firmly believe their time has come and gone, though.  The fact that information can be sent around the world in nanoseconds completely changes the game.

All a union would accomplish (in my admittedly limited viewpoint) is to ensure that bad MT's stay employed and good MT's don't get as far as they could on their own.  In my mind unions tend to pander to the lowest common denominator.   If you're good at what you do, I don't think you'll have any problems. 

So yes, for those of you who have gotten this far and whose eyes haven't crossed yet, I am grateful to have a job.  I actually have 2 jobs and I'm grateful for them both.  I know I can pay my mortgage and keep the lights on and buy cat food.  That last part is important - the little varmints outnumber me.  I don't plan on rocking any of my financial boats in the near future with the global economy tanking like it is.  If we knock over our boat, there are 100 other people here in the US and abroad who are happy to take over from us.

If this movement to start an MT union goes forward and actually happens, then what happens to those of us who have seen the negative side of unions and decline to participate?  Are we then treated like scabs, bullied and harrassed, unable to find work because we decide to not joint a club that takes our money and gives nothing in return?  Are we going to be ostracized?  What happens when this union organizes and immediately goes on strike because X company will not pay them X per line, plus hourly plus benefits? 

Like someone posted below, what happens to those of us who are ICs?  I am not able to work a set shift for various personal reasons, and so where would that leave me?  I have to have IC status in order to work. 

Also, what happens when all the US based companies decide to take ALL their business overseas because of the unionization of their workforce? 

I agree there needs to be a standard for the industry other than the AHDI or whatever they are calling themselves these days, but a union is only going to benefit a few.  What I have personally experienced with a union is that it drives the cost of operation for a company through the roof, and companies are in business to make money, not support people.  Also, the good, hard workers (for the most part) carry a lazy, inefficient work pool who refuse to do hard jobs because they are union and you can't fire a union worker. 

Basically, unions do not work for the honest folks who work their tails off to make a living.  They do work for the ones who think they deserve ____(fill in whatever you would like) because they are special because they belong to a union. 

Just saying my piece, and thank you for letting me vent.