[CAUT] Health Care

[Jeff Tanner]

Reflecting now on my #1 answer, I should probably have said, "...all, to some degree." In my own case, I was sold the bill of goods that if I took a low beginning salary, they would reward me with decent annual increases.  But I also needed a job with health care because I wanted to start a family. There just wasn't anything available back home in whatever job sector that matched with my skills and education, and the piano service market there was pretty dismal. I needed a job, and really had no idea that I could have held out for a higher starting pay.  The other finalist was asking for top of the salary band as he should have, approximately 50% more than they really wanted to pay, (and yet still drastically below what a local successful RPT had calculated the compromised market value actually was (I learned later)). He understood the system that I was ignorant of.  If I had had more information, I could have held more leverage during the salary negotiation.

In my opinion that's where the PTG and CAUT can offer more information to membership.  When I was job hunting, there were no resources available to help me know what the market value actually was (techs were quite tight lipped about what they earned), how to calculate it, what to expect as a take home pay after contributions to benefits and taxes, or the reality of how difficult it actually is to get a pay increase that you will actually notice.  And I'd come from an area where the cost of living was much lower. I was pretty ignorant about what it was going to cost me to live in this local area. We need some kind of evidence to take into a salary negotiation showing actual average gross incomes of successful self-employed piano technicians in relevant geographical areas. Music faculty know what they could make if they taught somewhere else, but they have no clue as to what we're worth except in the institutional setting where all of us have accepted drastic earnings compromises.  Those are all things I think would be a better benefit to members and have a better effect on the salary issue than another set of skills testing.
Tanner
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jeff Tanner 
  To: caut at ptg.org 
  Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 1:01 PM
  Subject: Re: [CAUT] Health Care


  Hi Kurt,
  1. Probably all. But add structured retirement plan, and in some cases, free or reduced tuition for family members, but that isn't available everywhere.  It is my opinion that most who take full time CAUT positions are not aware of just how much money you don't get to pay bills with.  And then, #2 happens.
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