Truth about unions - good for employees
Posted By: MTing on 2007-10-28
In Reply to: Serious reply, but you're not going to like it - Disunion
My huband is a union member. Union membership is voluntary, with it you pay dues, in exchange your union officials bargain with the company for fair wages, benefits, and pensions. A union signs a contract and during that time, the employees have job security. If there is low work because the offshore companies messed up or shipments didn't come in, it is their union that pays them subpay to compensate the difference between average earnings and unemployment if he has a week off. Also, we pay nada for health insurance premiums, only $10 for office visit, and $5/$15 for Rx, 0 for dental 50% for orthodontics, and $20 for glasses. Without the union supporting these workers they would have no ground to stand on with regard to pay and benefits and working conditions. Thanks to the union, if my husband works Saturdays its time and a half, Sunday are double-time and heaven forbid a holiday he gets paid triple time. When he retires, we keep the benefits and a nice pension. Unions are not all about the mob - I have family in chicago and it is not as you describe it. Chicago is a high crime area and it's not the unions that are causing the problem, it is the quality of people who work in SOME of the factories which are lower paying and the socioeconomic drive that results in shady business and your so called mobter and gangster life.
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A horrible company who does not value truth or the employees.
9
Unions exist to make money for unions.
That's the truth. They don't care if companies close because they can't afford to pay union wages, and then the workers have nothing.
Unions are on the side of the Unions!
You have a very glorified view of unions. For many years, unions have been associated with graft, corruption, and greed, and for good reason. The unions are in business for the unions, period. Unions will twist the truth to whatever extent necessary to pit workers against management. That is how they stay in business. Have you ever seen info about the salaries that union bosses make? They are atrocious. Unions are a BUSINESS. They are in business for themselves. They are NOT charitable organizations out to help workers, although that is what they say. They will only help the worker to the extent that it lines their pockets.
Sure thing...M.M. Hate to trash a person personally but the truth is the truth. nm
x
Losing good employees
They are about to lose another one...I'm a long time employee and just can't take it anymore. I work on multiple platforms and still have no work and the work I do have is 90% ESLs. I went from about 20% to 30% ESLs to suddenly 80% to 90% ESLs. You tell me these hospitals have no American doctors? It must all be going to India but you tell me why the Indians are not doing the Indian doctors? Wouldn't that be easier for them? I have had no raise ever since I've been here. Always told I'm at the top of the pay limit. I'm giving my notice right after Thanksgiving.
Good company who employees nearly as many
a good company who always swore they would never offshore our work. Yup, good company. 1000 domestic MTs and 600 Indians. They make MQ look loyal to the US!
Huge turnover at OSi. They have lost most of their good employees and are
Me thinks this nutcase is asking and answering questions here hoping to get people to apply.
Check the archives here on OSi....bad news!!!
Any American Transcription Solutions employees out there? Good or bad. nm
s
Zylo gives the good stuff to their favorites. New employees
get the leftover junk. Worked for them for 6 months recently, loved it at first except I wasn't getting enough work. 1000 lines one day, 200 the next, 75 the next. Kept asking for more work but never got it. Fortunately I didn't quit my job with Medquist and still had that for backup. Finally left last November.
SoftScript employees? Good money? Easy program? SM
I am interested in current information on Soft Script. Is it possible to make good money ($40,000 year/full time).
Is the programming easy?
Sound quality good? I was told it was good.
Thanks for all your help. Please email me if you wish. Thank you.
Would like to hear from recent WEBMEDX employees. Good/bad/ugly? (nm)
SoftScript employees? Good money? Easy program? SM
Although I realize this post is months after the original post, who in the world told you that MTs make $40,000 per year, especially at SoftScript? If you were talking to the owner (ewww!) or manager, they told you a bold-faced lie.
RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN......
Just curious
Unions
Yeah. Unions have worked really well for the auto workers.
I don't see where unions have done anything for anybody.
My brother was in the aircraft mechanics union. He paid BIG dues. He worked 3 years without a contract with a major airline. When they were negotiating, the airline told them that they would give them their raises on paper but that they were going belly up and would use the mechanics as their scapegoat because they demanded more money. That is exactly what happened. The airline went belly up and the mechanics were the scapegoats. They never saw one penny of any raise.
Unions are just another big business. They take the workers' money, and the workers are just puppets doing what they're told, striking when they're told, unable to feed their family because of unions.
Unions
 WE CAN'T WIN!! So I guess I'm just going to shut up and type some more!
or they know the truth and the truth hurts. NM
poo
Unions not the answer
I strongly disagree that unions will solve the problems afflicting the MT field. As long as there is outsourcing and other alternatives to traditional transcription, such as voice recognition, there will continue to be downward pressure on MT wages. Years ago when I worked in Human Resources for health care facilities, I sat on the other side of the negotiating table negotiating union contracts (our nurses were unionized), and I am appalled to this day at the underhanded tactics used by the unions. And talk about overinflated salaries - it is truly shocking what union officials make, and it all comes out of the pockets of union members who get a rather dubious return on their union dues. I just don't believe unionization will solve our problems. I think the only thing that will stop the downward pressure on MT pay is if an end is put to outsourcing (and I don't think its unrealistic to think that could happen at some point).
I've been in unions and know what
they can do for you. Without unions there would be no vacation pay, sick days, 40 hour week (for some).
I would very definitely love to be part of a union and also would be willing to strike if necessasry to make this happen.
Like all unions, strength is in the numbers so let's hope people support the idea.
Unions would help us get some recognition
Currently it's lacking 100%. Look at AAMT/AHDI -- they don't represent us, they're killing us. They need to be investigated and put on a short leash ASAP.
obama and unions
link The big money companies would not allow and would fight it big time. I know one southern California hospital sure did fight unionization
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/us/politics/09labor.html
It is too late for unions. It never would have worked.
bebe
If IC's can't join EXISTING unions, then maybe
it's time for MTs to form a union that DOES include IC's, especially since they are a large part of this industry. They deserve better wages, too.
Completely agree. Before unions,
people were forced to work 7 days a week, 12 hour days, no benefits, no overtime, no minimum wage, no safety standards, etc etc etc.... THANK YOU UNIONS.
You know, there are unions in place already. Here is their payscales....
Full-time and part-time employee hospital positions payscales are as follows:
MT Level 1 to Level 3=
$23.68 to $28.70 per hour plus benefits which include 401b, health insurance, dental, vision, life insurance, Wellness Programs, 24 PTO days, plus paid holidays and a few other perks.
Did you not do your homework?
The payscales you have in this post are way too low.
Unions haven't helped much in years
Sadly, they've become more of a corporation themselves. You pay dues and if a conpany wants to bail or relocate or outsource, they still can and do.
Well, MY experience with unions is the exact opposite...
My dad was in a textile worker's union for 35 years. He had to go through a strike when he had 3 small kids. For six weeks, he received $20 a week and only two bags of groceries for the whole duration. He lost his job at 35 years from the plant closing. That is not to mention that his union wages had us always barely making it, and the union never once did a thing about the conditions they had to work in. He has struggled with a form of bladder cancer for 19 years from working in those conditions and the chemicals used there.
Ask the auto manufacturers what the union has done for them. Yes, the workers are making it fine laid off, but the companies are near death. Those companies feed our nation. We're 1000 miles from Detroit and our livelihood depends on those car companies staying up and running. My husband's company does not make a thing related to cars, but the company that OWNS his company does.
Bottom line is that if this industry has come to the point that we are discussing needing a union, then maybe we need to either get government intervention to standardize the industry, set regulations about ONLY US work for US medical records, and use only certified workers, OR we need to go back to college for our next career choice.
Posts about unions - For All Posters and Readers
Posters placing threads and replies about unions are expected to follow the same guidelines and policies that all other posters follow. Making derrogatory statements about MTStars while utilizing its resources is not going to be tolerated. Encouraging posters in practices that are not advisable for MTStars posters is not going to be tolerated, either.
MTStars allows you to discuss your topics on the Company and Main boards but each poster must still be appropriate. Posts with inappropriate information will be removed; posters who engage inappropriately may be banned. There are no special circumstances either way for those discussing the union topics than any other topic on MTStars' boards.
MTStars Team
Unions in Canada, MTs make $23 hour plus Yep
I communicate with an MT in Canada and that is what she relayed.
Oh for sure employees, but not too often for statutory employees. Sorry for confusion.
x
Attn: Any Transcend employees or former employees
I have been offered a job with Transcend, but I am not completely sure about it yet and I need some input from you guys. I have read positives and negatives regarding this company but alot of it was pretty old information. Can anyone give me some recent feedback on them? Thanks very much!!!
I though unions not legal in some states (right-to-work states) nm
nm
They have IC and employees, employees get benefits.
Good company. I am very happy there.
Does anyone like it at Precyse? New employees? old employees? nm
nm
The truth
Many good and bad things can be said about this company. I am currently with them, going on my 5th year.
First the downside. They do outsource offshore, no secret, says so on their website. Hospitals can choose either U.S. or if unwilling to pay that higher rate can opt for the offshore services at a reduced rate. The reason they do this is at the request of the HOSPITAL, and to stay competitive with other vendors.
They have had some dishonest supervisors in the past that allowed cherrypicking to occur, now if you get caught doing so, you can be written up and terminated, it is NOT tolerated anymore and those who get caught do get reprimanded (I am on a team who has had several cherrypickers and the whole group got the nasty emails so everyone would know it was going on and that they better not do it because it hurt the whole group).
They do have clients that are soley re-record and overflow. But, they also have full service accounts that are not re-record. The sound quality on both is superb, only a slight difference on re-record, but not enough to complain about.
Their pay is fair and if you are as good as an MT as everyone claims to be, you can make really good money with them. The faster you type and more accurate you are the more you make, plain and simple. If you know your terminology and don't have to waste time looking up things, no reason to not meet and exceed your required line counts and get that incentive. Also, have heard that they are now paying extra incentive for 2nd and 3rd shift to get people to work those shifts - not something that used to happen.
Overall, I would suggest this company to anyone that is a quality MT, if you don't want to work hard, don't waste your time because that is how you make money in this field. I'm not a cheerleader for the company and there may be other companies out there that are better, but to each his/her own. No company is a perfect fit for every MT, this just happens to be mine for the time being. You have nothing at all to lose by applying and trying them out for awhile other than a learning experience for yourself. Who knows, they might be a perfect match for your needs.
Just the truth
Like I've said, I've never posted here before but everyone reaches a breaking point. I didn't mind lying low and minding my own business for all those years because I had 3 accounts to work on so rarely ran out of work. 2 were their worst accounts but I've never worked for any other company at home, only in hospitals. I am just so disillusioned that they would offer us a quality incentive after complaining how bad the quality was and that they were losing accounts and then for those of us that have always done good work, the money never came. And the fact that they just ignored my messages not once but 3 times is so unprofessional. I am totally ashamed that the VPs would stoop so low. I probably would have accepted an excuse if they would have replied and been upfront about the incentive thing falling through but they didn't do that. Its just too much to swallow and it makes me sad to think people would treat employees that way. They are going through so many people so quickly that soon no one will want to work there. Its a shame because I really liked 2 people that you had to deal with on a daily basis and they were always nice. Unfortunately they are not in a position to make changes that desperately need to be made.
To tell you the truth,
I really don't care whether MQ finds out I am posting comments or not. What are they going to do? Fire me before I can quit? Blackball me so I can't get another MT job anywhere?
Also, I sincerely doubt that with the reduced staff MQ has, they have enough people to sit around and monitor/read our postings here.
some truth--but...
I agree with your point that people are car pooling, etc., which contributes to the lay offs. Foreign cars being better than American made, sorry, that I don't agree with..but we are all entitled to our own opinion and I respect yours as well. Maybe you had a bad experience with an American made car to give you this opinion. Don't give up. There are good American made cars out there as well. Just, think about this, when you go and buy a used car, and I commend you for doing that...I think it is smart, just think about buying an American made car. I think we need to support our own and maybe if we do things will be better for our children and their children!! We can't change the world in a day as it took much longer to get us to the state we are in, but if everyone made a conscious effort to do just 1 thing everyday to support our economy by buying USA or even making an effort to let your hospital know how you feel about them offshoring when your American earned $ are what is supporting them, if everyone would do just one thing a day, that would be just 1 less thing to support the off-shore community, and 1 less thing per each person in the entire United states adds up to billions of less things done for off-shoring. Now that will make a difference, and just think if each person would do just 2 things each day, etc.....It can be done!! Just make some noise. That is what these companies whether it be medical transcription, car dealers, or whatever, do not want!!
You want me to not tell the truth? Why?
I made 38K as a base with added $$ over a certain number of hires a month. I was offered more by another major MTSO, but I decided to get out of recruiting altogether for reasons cited in my other post, and declined the offer.
A recruiter I know personally was paid much, much more than I was and I have no reason to believe she'd lie to me. She made a great deal with the company. Sometimes it's about who you know, or your reputation in the business. They want you bad enough, they'll pay.
You can't equate what production pays versus working a deal with senior management for a salaried position. There are QA managers and MT supervisors out there making $30K, and there are those out there making $50-60K and probably more. (I was offered 50K to supervise, but you couldn't pay me enough to assume that particular nightmare.) Bottom line is that it's all about the deal.
Bottom line: Just because you don't believe it, or haven't seen it personally, doesn't mean it isn't so.
tell them the truth and see what they say!
nm
Ain't that the truth
Awhile ago they were having some big brujaja and taking up huge amounts of space on this forum, pushing everything else out. We asked the mod to give them their own board, and she did. Thanks...
Spheris is an okay company. I have nothing bad to say about them. I left for personal reasons. Never tried the #1 squid, but I had worked for a number of companies they ate up.
Just tell them the truth (sm)
Tell them your kids come first and you have other commitments than your job. If they want mandatory OT, if you are willing to do OT, tell them it has to be at your convenience or you will be unable to fulfill the requirement. If they are in that desperate need for OT they will take it when they can get it and when it's convenient for you. If you don't want to do it tell them you aren't doing it you have other commitments that came before the OT was instituted and you can't just get rid of those responsibilities. they will deal with it, they need you.
Boy, that's the truth!
It seems that all companies are offering 7 cents per line even if you have 10+ years' experience or more...........
Boy, is that the truth!!
I have gone through this in the years, also, and it is crap to say the least, the very least!! 
See? They tell the truth.
nm
Boy is that not the truth...
I get a daily update on what is going on with the account and my leader askes us to work on such and such and we do. I however work earlier than I get that report and later in the afternoon and evening, so I get to make a choice about what I get done that day based on what is required. If we need work on OPs I concentrate on Ops for about half my shift adn then I might go do some H&PS and then work on a few discharge summaries. Always keeping my eye on the backlog. It is really, really, really great that I get to choose. That way I am not stuck on having to do op reports day in and day out and day in...well you get the picture. I get to have a cross section of reports and I really x3 like that. Now I am certainly not going to site on HPs or whatever if were are several days behind in op reports. I guess I just like that I can make that decision.
The Truth...
It has been my experience with Focus that they are very good to work for as an MT. They offered me a position on the SWAT team which I declined due to the fact that the hourly rate would be about a 50% pay cut from my MT pay. They came back later with a per line paid QA position which I accepted. I have been doing that for some time now, however on Thursday they called me out of the blue and let me know they were eliminating US based QA/QC on the platform I was working on. To add insult to they offered me a position with a 1 cent pay cut and a change from M-F first shift to Sun-Thurs 2nd or 3rd shift. I honestly feel that this job offer was more or less a way to eliminate my ability to recieve unemployment. Now I get to wait at least a week to get setup and trained for the new platform.
Again, not the truth sm
I have been there a year. When have I run out of work? Holidays. July 4th was okay, but nothing on Labor Day much. The only other time was for about 3 hours late in July. Other than that, I have never run out. I don't wait for anything to load, my Q is always full.
Part of what you are hearing is the pickiness of others. Many MTs at TT are cherry pickers of sorts. They refuse a secondary account. They refuse work types (although I do too) and worst of all, they refuse to do certain doctors. They are not telling the whole truth.
As for over hiring, that is not really true either. IF they do, it is not deliberate. If a hospital says we have X amount of lines per month at our previous company, then TT hires based on those numbers. If the previous service was padding lines or didn't report accurately for whatever reason, then yes, TT over hired, but through no fault of their own. They try to run initial numbers of MTs high with new accounts because of attrition.
ALL companies have this problem: Hire 20 MTs. 5 stick to the job, their schedule and their commitment to you. 5 flake from day one. 10 won't show up regularly and when they do, they don't meet their commitment. Given that a company hires based on a certain number of lines generated, hires to their minimum requirements (say 1200 lines per MT per day)...the bad habits of the majority of MTs leaves them high and dry. Either you work your existing MTs harder or you hire more. Of course, when a flake pulls her head out of her rear and starts to try to meet her commitment, there isn't going to be the sort or amount of work she wants to do.
This is why I defend TT because I work there, because I am still ecstatically happy after a year, because I have never had a problem and I am glad I didn't listen to all the dissenters. TT is not my only job and I don't keep a second because I don't have work anytime I want it. I work my second job because I love it and they love having me on the team. I am part of management at my PT job and I see both sides of this equation.
Of my dozen or so MTs, I have 1 whose work is stellar and she won't show up. I have one who is not quite the MT she thinks she is, but she is good enough and she shows up every day. I have one who is a very hard worker, but whose work is sub par. The rest are fair to passing quality wise and work most of their shifts. That one really good quality MT is 10% of my team. The hard workers are 20% of my team and the other 70% is so-so. I am not the only team manager putting up with this.
I am telling you people to grow up. Act like a professional, live up to your commitments and do your job. Furthermore, take a page from Amanda's book, the MT with the timer on the main board last week, and sit down and work! You'll find that this business is not going down the toilet. It is merely that most MTs prefer to witch, moan and complain while they do the swirly dance.
We know the truth
The truth is you work for TTD. Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Go ahead, take the first step. We are here for ya! 
They just don't like the truth. nm
 OP when she hears the truth.
that is the TRUTH
those two can make a person nuts...i think they are both bipolar and forgot to take their meds....
Whether you want to believe it or not, just truth
This person has a family to support. She quit a job because they asked if she wanted the 3 days off they offered for a death in the family. That is the way businesses run whether you want to believe or not. Now she is having to think about unemployment when she had a job where she had been for 3 years. I said I sucked it up when my vacation time was taken away. Probably working from home is even worse than working inhouse. When working inhouse my mother was dying in another state. I had to find someone to come in and relieve me of my job so I could spend the last day of my mother's life with her - I was the only 1 working in my office at that time. Do not preach to me. I have been there before. Honesty sometimes is hard to deal with.
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