A case could be made that you would never see a 35/150 RP job if it wasn't for the efforts of the NPUA. Ride their coat tails if you want, or get off the fence and support them so 35/150 becomes the norm, not the exception.
The same could be said of the internet and websites like NukeWorker. Before NukeWorker went online everyone was making $14.50 & $50. -- Due to increased communication via the internet (and a shortage of workforce), the rates have gone up.
The companies that are paying $35/hr are not paying it because of the NPUA; they are paying it because it’s the only way to get good techs. There is a shortage of good techs out there. You want the good techs, you pay for good techs. It’s just that simple.
If you want to pay $22/hr for techs… you get what you pay for. i.e. Someone that CAN’T work where the rate is better, or someone that will jump ship at the first BETTER offer.
I believe we all agree that if a tech wants to make $35/hr, they can. The jobs are out there. Most all DOE sites are paying $32-35/hr. The techs have to stop accepting $22/hr jobs and crying about it. They have to take action. That action might include the NPUA, it might not. It might include learning to pass the CORE exam, and stepping outside your comfort zone. God forbid we adults have to learn something new or challenge ourselves.
If you include the NPUA in your plans, then do it right, don’t just sign a card. Follow all of their other guidance, not just the parts that are convenient for you.
This is the advice I give my friends, and it has made them a lot of money, it might work for you too: All you need to do is decide what you are worth, and only accept jobs that pay that number. Company A will call you and offer you the ‘going rate’ and you need to turn it down, even if it is at home, or at your favorite plant with your best friends. Company B will call you too and offer you the going rate at a string of sites promising you a long and fruitful string of jobs. Turn it down. Tell them both that you want to work for them, and what you are willing to work for, and when they have a job that pays that rate, you are available. You know what? They will call. Not later that day, or tomorrow, but they WILL call. They have jobs at all pay rates. They fill the low paying jobs with workers that have historically accepted low paying jobs. They fill the higher paying jobs with workers that they can’t put in the lower paying jobs. They need to fill all of the spots.
When staffing firms can’t fill the $22 jobs, but fill all of the $35 jobs, they go back to the client with their hat in their hand. They tell the client that they CAN staff the job, just not at the rate they all agreed to. The client doesn’t like this, and has the option of giving them more money to staff it at a higher rate or to let another company try to staff it at the same rate. Typically, the staffing firm can staff it at the higher rate, and everything is good in the world. Sometimes they can’t. When the client decided to let another staffing firm try to staff it at the lower rate, the result is typically the bad, no one wants to go there. The client eventually learns that they need to pay more. The client hates paying more. They hate it because they have to tell their superiors that they need more money. And that makes their superiors mad, because they in turn have to tell their superiors, etc.
At some point, someone says, “Just get it done, and make it happen”. That’s when everyone makes more money except the client.
Now, if people accept the $22/hr job, none of this happens. The client gets a bunch of crappy workers at the low rate, and just thinks that the industry is full of crappy workers. No one makes more money. The client isn’t going to pay more next time either, because they assume all of the workers are crappy, and are not worth more money. It isn’t a staffing issue, because they staffed it. It’s a general industry problem of low quality workers.
You have to only accept the job that pays what you feel is fair for your valuable time. If you are worth $35/hr, then take any job that pays $35, and let the people that can’t get $35 accept the $22/hr jobs. Some people work at the $22 jobs because it is near their house. I love you, but if you accept those jobs, you are part of the problem. NOT part of the solution. It does matter. Go ahead and take the job, and I’ll still love you. But I don’t want you to ever complain about the wages anywhere, any time. Because it’s the people that do what is convenient that make the wages stay low. Only take the highest available job, all the time. And you will be part of the solution.
Part 2 of the plan, is, of course, to make yourself worth more… so you can get more of those higher paying jobs.