<HTML>In a message dated 5/22/02 7:46:17 PM Central Daylight Time, vem@email.byu.edu writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">I cannot agree with Wim less when he says that a CAUT's salary should be comparable to other full time staff positions at their respective universities.  Like secretaries, huh?  Bologna!!  How would we be "shooting ourselves in the foot" if we "advocate" that CAUTs should be earning what "upper end" piano techs in the private sector earn??  That to me would be exactly what we SHOULD be holding up as an example!! Look.  It's simple.  What could YOU be making privately, in an 8 hour day?   Take that figure, minus the benefits package, and voila!  There's your salary.   Period. vince </BLOCKQUOTE> Vince I said NOT like a secretary. You are right that the formula, working an 8 hour day, minus the benefit package, is a good salary. So let's take a look at that. First of all, as I pointed out, very few technicians work an 8 hour day. Most techs I know, who consider themselves full time, work 50 or 60 hours a week. Maybe they are out there tuning pianos from 9 - 5, but then they come home and do paper work, make telephone calls, set up appointments, etc., and all of a sudden, there's an extra 10 to 20 hours.   Benefits. I presume most universities give about the same benefits. First of all, I only work 37.5 hours per week. I get 4 weeks of paid vacation, plus 6 paid holidays. I get 1 day per month counted towards my sick days, that's another 12 days a year of paid time. My health insurance costs me $175 per month for my wife and I. Last year I was paying $550 per month. I get time off to attend seminars and conventions, and I actual get reimbursed some of my expenses for the convention. I can take 2 classes per semester free. If I had kids, they would get free tuition. It costs me $30 per month for my wife and I to go to the rec center. I was paying $700 a year for the both of us to belong to Balleys. (Because I work only 3 blocks from there, I go almost every day at lunch to work out. Last year I got to go maybe two or three times a month, and even then, I had to go out of my way to get to a club.) And last, but not least, 3% of my income is deducted for retirement, which the state will double when I retire. I make $20 per hour, times $37.50 is $39,000. My vacation time, sick days, and holidays adds another $5850. The difference between what I used to pay, and what it cost me now for health insurance is $4800. The difference in rec center is $340. Retirement adds $1170 per year. This year I am taking 3 weeks of professional development time, at $20 per hour is another $2250. That's $14,410. in "benefits." That doesn't even include the tuition, which I am not taking advantage of. My full time income from the university has a value of $53,410. Is this in line what a "full time" technician makes? Wim </HTML>