Slave labor, I agree
Posted By: Laughing too on 2005-11-21
In Reply to: Have to post this because I think its both funny AND insulting - sm - xx
His $10 bid was probably from China (or the company which MT's are not allowed to talk about here anymore).
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7 or even 7.5 cpl is slave labor
I had a company offer me 7.5 cents recently and I said no, perservered it out, and found a great company that pays 10 cents a line and they actually care about their MTs, not treat them like a number. Hold out for what you deserve to be paid and don't compromise. A company paying 7 cents is looking for slave labor.
Slave labor
... sounds like someone is on their high horse in a third world country and expects American MTs to get with the slave labor mentality!
I just answered the insurance post. I don't know if they have slave labor or not. nm
nm
yes, pay by production reminds me of slave labor on an assembly line, with pitiful
payback. Apparently, these nationals get away with this because we're willing to sell ourselves so cheaply to work at home. It's like having a constant monkey on your back to make production, with so many variables thrown in each day that it's just nothing but stress. And, what if you are having a bad day, not feeling up to snuff? NO CAN DO, or your paycheck reflects it. I mean, everyone has off/slow days now and then, but we're expected to work in constant high gear for fear of the loss in income. I live in a rural area, with in-house MT jobs scarce, which is why I'm doing this, but if there WERE an opening in a hospital, I'd run for it.
Well what is slave labor? Unpaid? Do these people willing report to work unpaid?
Sounds like they may work for a certain national MT company with a private board on MT Stars. Now that's slave labor. Walmart is a walk in the park compared to the national MT company with the private board.
Labor Stats from Dept of Labor for MT inside
This is quite interesting...it is too long to post here but I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on the statistics. Thanks!
tp://64.233.169.104/search?q=cache:eGxrU1X5lOEJ:www.bls.gov/oco/ocos271.htm+how+much+to+become+certified+Medical+Transcription&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
Slave Wages
I dont know who you work for but I make about $25-30 per hour. I work two jobs and 10-12 hours a day and on weekends and I make between $6000 and $7000 per month. I know that is excessive for hours but I am trying to pay off my house, car, etc and I am spoiling my 3 kids rotten!!
I type radiology, which I believe is the easiest and fastest to learn and type.
Yep, it IS just one little detail, the fact that you are slave to them, but when they
x
If you think you are working for slave wages now...
Medical transcription is not your field. We work for slave wages and have to compete with offshore transcriptionists who work for next to nothing.
You will need to have an extensive medical knowledge, be willing to constantly purchase new equipment and reference books, and for all of that you get paid worse than a Wal-Mart greeter. Wages consistently have been going down, not up.
If you have a bachelor's degree, I would look into other fields if I were you.
The only way I would recommend this field to someone is if they are handicapped or have an ill child or something that forces them to work from home. Aside from that, I wouldn't recommend it.
Again, if you make yourself a slave to them they will never respect you.
and that will give her a nudge towards "independence" instead of being dependent on you and not appreciating it.
Your heart is in the right place but sometimes good-intentioned people like yourself unknowingly make themselves appear to be a doormat and can't figure out why they get treated as such.
Reply: THere are not enough MTs willing to work for slave
p
gotta love your ID "MQ Slave" says it all.
Tooooo funny. My daughter stopped in the other day and headed right to my office. She said, "OH MY GAWD! MOM'S IN THE KITCHEN!" 
Sleeping all day long while my little fantasy slave does my lines LOL :-)
Wow... you vacuum every day? Dang, I'd never even get 50 lines done a day if I did that. I maintain and clean seriously on my one day off, but... hats off to you, sister!
6 cents a line is not competitive imo. More like slave wages.
x
can you stand on your feet all day, be abused by better than thou customers, work for slave wages?
What are you doing for labor day?
xxx
Not til the Wed. after Labor Day ...
here near Rochester, NY.
I don't. It is just as labor-intensive and-
you end up fixing things like changing "were" to "are", "a" to "an", that kind of thing. Easier in my opinion to type from scratch, not to mention that you are usually making half what a normal line rate is to do VR.
I am, too, wonder if it's just because of the Labor Day holiday?
nm
No, its cheap labor.
x
You can also go to the Dept. of Labor. (n/m)
x
They use overseas labor.
.
Need labor union
After 20 years in this industry I can't wait to get out of it - early retirement here I come...They want to pay highly skilled translators (which is more what we do) at rate of a typist.
Labor Board
Forget the state - go to the Department of Labor on website - I had to, my company "borrowed" from my IRA and although I got my money, I did not get my interest, cap gains etc. The labor board is helping me now, including filing charges against them for bouncing checks etc. The problem is if no one complains when the check bounces not much you can do. Bounce a check at walmart and go to court possible jail- bounce a paycheck and do nothing if they send out another to you, doesn't matter when they do, just that they do. If it happens often, don't request a new check file charges and then get your money. They won't do it again.
What you doing over the Labor Day holiday?
Happy Labor Day!
Speaking of labor, I am working today. Anyone else working this holiday? 
If indeed more co. using China labor we need
x
Why would it cost $140? inc. labor?
you can do it yourself, it's easy. I doubled mine for about $60, but I think I got another 512 MB or so, then got I think a $20 rebate. I noticed the speed. It's easier to keep multiple programs running and loaded and properly functioning at one time. Multitasking is easier. My work computer is 256, tell me that doesn't suck! I spend half my day waiting, it seems.
Yep, that is labor also and you gotta know
I am dumb when it comes to computers and such. I would hate to really mess something up to where I could not work. I might have to have some memory removed in order to go to 1.5 but my computer will go to 2. Wonder if I should go for that much? thanks for the advice.
Labor Board
For those of you who are not getting paid (seems like an epidemic) report your employer to the labor board in your state. A word on Gant Transcription - this being a company who either does not pay or sends checks with insufficient funds - be wary of any advertisements here or on any other board - it's a bad deal - remember you are not working for free - and this company does not pay unless forced to. Don't fall into Gant's trap unless you like spending your days and nights working for nothing. If your company is not paying - keep all correspondence and report them immediately to your labor board - they will straighten things out. The BBB is not the way to go - they can do nothing to get your past wages to you - but the Wage and Labor Board can and will.
I am an IC so labor board can't help
I will be filing a small claims suit next. Unfortunately this company is in Midwest and I am on East Coast, so I am going to have to look into the logistics of it. Thanks.
Labor laws
I think there may be some strong labor laws against such behavior. State labor laws obviously vary, but even Federal Labor Laws should prevent this.
I hate to hear about collusion like this against a person, who possibly just had the temerity to disagree.
Quig
It is not manual labor...
just another excuse by you
Department of Labor
Were you awarded a judgment in your favor and how long it takes?
Try the Department of Labor and Industry.
You can turn them into the State Attorney General's office, BBB, FTC, as well. And small claims court. I would send a certified letter demanding payment first with the threat that if they do not pay by XX date, you will pursue further legal action against them.
So I am the one doing the labor and get 8 cpl. Frank and all the managers
need a little something-something for all their "hard" work. We MTs are so 
Turn them in to the BBB and the Department of Labor.
They're scamming people. Somebody needs to stop them before they hose over any other new MTs. Parents magazine even had an article about TranScam.
Labor laws in some states (particularly CA) SM
are more stringent and some of the nationals won't hire from certain states because their laws are stricter than federal labor laws.
check with the dept of labor...sm
they might be able to handle it for free
according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics . . .
"According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there were a total of 97,810 medical transcriptionists working in the US in May 2003, the latest period for which data was available."
http://www.globaloutsourcing.org/content/Processes/2005/105010101.asp
This is a lie. Go look at the labor board website.
Funny to me what people ASSUME is covered by The Government! LOL
No, not take over. Increase international labor use? Yes.
owning a US company but using international labor.
Two words: LABOR BOARD.
.
Regarding US companies using overseas labor
Maybe we can start by not utilizing their services and getting the word out.
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/lou.dobbs.tonight/popups/exporting.america/content.html
Sweat shop labor
We can all clearly see the run around by various layers of quality control when work goes offshore, and what it really costs. But the thing is that as more and more corporations offshore their products, they are able to skirt strict regulations in the U.S. For instance, as we already see the advantage of India doing transcription while we sleep here in the US, they don't have labor laws as we do. A corporation here in the US dealing with American workers has to deal with lots of regulations such as labor laws, state compensation for injuries for employees, etc. These regulations cost money to the company. In countries like India, China, the Phillipines, there are no labor laws such as in the U.S. If a company says a worker must work 12 hours a day with no benefits or breaks, you can be sure these people will do this, and are sometimes grateful where no job existed before. If working conditions are intolerable, there is no agency that protects the people. You can see how American corporations are motivated to send work offshore and not deal with US regulations and laws that cost the company money. Yes, exploitation at its finest. However, I saw a documentary recently by Lisa Ling on TV where it showed that many women in third world countries are becoming increasingly dissatisfied with working conditions. The documentary followed different women and what they must do to have a job in the city. Many women leave their children far away in another city at home with the grandparents. These women travel and live in the city to work for a few dollars a day. They must work weekends, holidays, and may travel back home once a month to give the money they make to their families. These women were interviewed and were questioning whether having a job far away from a rural town was worth it with no time off for the holidays, and missing their children and families. So you see, these people are getting restless too, and want time off on their holidays and family time just as much as we do. I have no doubt in time there were be a rising in advocacy for labor laws in these countries.
Depends on state labor law where you are...
I live in a state where they have to have a reason, fully documented.
I have lived in states though that are called "right to work" which is probably a strange way to describe it, because they can fire you with no reason whatsoever whenever they feel like it.
But, were you fired or technically just laid off is the other question to answer.
Unfair labor practices
I'm an independent contractor and the company I work for is offering bonuses to some ICs, but not all. I know I could choose not work for them, but this is a pretty shady practice. I'm also routinely shorted on my pay, though they make it up the next month. I would like to do something about it if possible. Has anyone ever filed a complaint with EEO or Labor Relations for something like this? Thanks.
Two words: * LABOR BOARD * - nm
U.S. Labor Laws Don't Apply...
in India. Unfortunately , many countries don't have employee anti-discrimination laws. India seems to be one example. But , I have seen employment ads in the Philippines where they not only discriminate on the basis of age , but they do so on the basis of gender as well. Then there also issues of workplace health and safety (no O.S.H.A. there) as well.
Those who get these jobs there probably feel pretty fortunate , but we know better don't we?
Labor Board Denied
The Labor Board only deals with "Employer/Employee" situations. I only have and always only had Independent Contractors that I provide a 1099. She claimed to be an "employee". If you read up on the ABC and/or the 20-law factors of the IRS, you would understand more on this. She also claimed some other issues that did not involve the Labor Board as well. I have all the paperwork.
Need checks, not labor denial
The labor board only DENIED because it DOES NOT deal with this and not because she was INNOCENT. So I would want to see cancelled checks, front and back, signed and see what account they were deposited into for me to consider her innocent. Easy enough to prove. But if she proves that the labor board denied the claim that does nothing it just states that we don't deal with IC's and does not clear her at all. It is very simple, get copies of the checks front and back and then I guess you could ask the person who was supposedly have been paid to produce that month's bank statement showing that it either did not did not get deposited there. All the time she has spent arguing and defending herself, she could have proven herself innocent by now. This is one word against the other and one has to be right and they need to produce the proof.
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