[BC] My SBE Suggestions

[Kirk Harnack]

Jerry Mathis wrote:
>>
>> 1. REALLY embrace the concept of appropriate pay for engineers.
> 
> 
> Surely the experience of labor unions shows this does not work. When the 
> price of Engineers gets raised artificially, they'll either 1) hire 
> Engineers who aren't SBE members; 2) Reduce the number of Engineers on 
> staff even further; or 3) Rely on factory tech support and purchase 
> equipment less likely to need Engineers.
> 
> NOT that I consider Engineers to be overpaid! But you can't artificially 
> raise the worth of Engineering in each and every situation.

Jerry,

I don't think Mario is saying that.  My "union detector" doesn't alarm 
when Mario speaks of "appropriate pay".

I agree with Mario that, as broadcast engineers, many of us lack the 
academic and/or professional credentials that are commonplace in other 
technical professions.  And for those who have the academic credentials, 
there's still often a lack of perceived professional value in our services.

Many broadcast engineers on this list have been asked or told by their 
management to perform tasks that commensurate with those of janitors and 
delivery boys.  Would an IT "professional" at a typical corporation be 
asked the same?  In my experience, no.  Why are we sometimes perceived 
as "jacks of all trades"?

I don't have the answers, but I'm thankful that Mario is asking them.


best,

kirk harnack