BC,
Like you once said, we've been on opposite sides of the table on some topics, but not this one! I'd have to say, you are Dead On Balls Accurate!
Rates: Of all the Trades in the Nuclear Business, the average journeyman wage is about $7 to $10, per hour higher, than a Senior Health Physics Technician of twenty years, Not Counting Annuities and Insurance! Their Union, we're not....Another thread in it's own! I have also been to sites, where the entry level laborer made more then the Senior Techs, with twenty years experience! Apparently our trade just isn't worthy of being Recognized! There is a lot of room for wages to grow, but until that venue is pushed, seriously pushed by the Techs, nothing is going to change!
I also see the conflict created by the pecking order associated with a variable pay scale, based on Time, Experience and Performance. Each Tech needs to make their own decision on where they stand on such an issue. At the present time an entry level, three year senior makes the same as a twenty year senior! That's nice bucks for a Newbie! Five years from now, when that same Senior gains more experience and seasons, he will be making the same money as the entry level Senior! Now there's an incentive if I ever seen one! To the Juniors in the equation, you have to figure yourself on a limited run. After you make it to the big 3.1 Senior, your as high as your ever going to go, under the present standards!
Over the last decade, not much has improved in the overall picture for our trade. Most benefits are high in cost, low in quality and have strings attached! Wages that grow at a mear percentage of the annual cost of living! Avenues for education that don't exist. Techs required to maintain Qualifications, at their Own Expense! The one thing that nobody can deny, the Utilities and Contract Companies have been voicing their care and concerns for our trade, for well over ten years! Both sit in the bleachers and offer lots of advice on the declining population of Techs and the quality or our Trade! Neither has done a damn thing about it! Any Tech waiting for them to respond, without personally pushing the venue, better be satisfied with what they have today, it isn't going to change much tomorrow!
Education: VooDoo, the Business is an Education! I'll probably stand alone on this one, but when I see a past burger flipper, sitting next to me, studying a Tech Manuel, HP Study Guide, or other Trade Related Text Book, that person is Golden! That's the Tech I want working with me in the field! Anybody willing to get their hands dirty and expand their knowledge, in the business, has my total respect! I've seen a lot of four year degreed whiz kids, come and go. All heading to that upper tier in management. A small percentage seem to do well, most are confussed with the mechanics of the business. Yes, they can tell you the dose rate, at one foot, from an X-ray machine, but since there aren't a lot of X-ray machines in Nuke Plants, the knowledge has no value! In the mid 80's I worked with one meter swinging contractor, who was a Certifed Health Physist, with a PHD! My first question, " What in the Hell are you doing here "? His reply, " I don't know a thing about Commercial Power, figured I'd see what it's all about "! I ran across the same guy three years later and asked him what he thought of the business? He stated that he actually liked the daily challenges associated with the job, it kept things interesting. He also stated that there wasn't a book, class, or degree in the world, that could offered the same education!
Incentives: I guess it's no secret that the healthiest horse, does the most work! In most plants, do a good job and you get the next job! Let's check this concept out a little further. Lets say all techs make the same money, like today world. One tech keeps a low profile in the breakroom and sits with his home business sale book, open in front of him, looking busy. Another tech is buzzing around containment, trying to support a dozen jobs. After a few hours, the containment tech enters the breakroom. After five minutes, the window opens and the supervisor ask's the containment tech, to do a job normally assigned to the tech reading his sales book. After the job is completed, the containment tech ask's why he was requested to do the other techs job? The answer, Every time I ask the guy to do something, it either gets done wrong, or a half hour explanation is required for a five minute job! He didn't want to bother asking him to do anything, anymore! The result of the scenerio was an early layoff for the containment tech! Since the tech wasn't a contract company manager, the brief lecture stating the other techs lazy habits, was considered a personality conflict!
As with most outages, everybody is a Techs! In other words, managers are very few and normally invisible! This leads me to believe that poor performance is actually promoted and obviously condoned, by the Utilities and Contract Companies! Most sites don't allow for a contract managment team, just a coordinator, one per shift. Funny thing, the utility usually has a ratio of one supervisor to five, or six techs. Based on the fact, that very little managemnt is allowed and the co-employment issue is always rolling around, it seems fair to assume my theory is correct. After all, the problem seem's to be industry wide, constant and accepted as a normal way of doing business! Even prior postings on this thread offers the same information. So many heavy hitters to so many slugs! It's sad when you realize that the sites not only recognize the problem, but they also make concession for it!
Where are the Heavy Hitters? They're adjusting to the game! Why do more? I know quite a few Techs who are 110%! Give them an assignment, put a meter in their hand and let them run! These Techs probably know the jobs, better than the workers! Besides completing the tasks based on self pride, what other incentive do they have? More Dose, More Running, More Responsibility and the list goes on! Lets see, if I had my choice of sitting in the breakroom, sipping on coffee, or suited up under vessel, pulling drives, I must admit it would be a tuff choice! Especially for the same money! Here's another reason why the heavy hitters list is getting shorter. Believe it or not, some managers have asked the more experienced Techs, to keep an eye on the Green Seniors! Lets look at that one! We both make the same money and you want me to take responsibility for someone else, while trying to do my own job? Sorry, that's called a manager, ask somebody else!
To all the techs who take assignments based on the buddy system, they really aren't your buddies! I've heard it a hundred times in the past, I've been there five outages in a row, they treat me good, they give me a special job, it's close to home, their my buddies! When the outage is over, your buddies ask you to go away and probably have nothing to do with you, until your services are needed next year! Anybody asking you to show up for the present anti-quated wages, are the ones I would put on the other list! You are actually doing them a favor, it's not the other way around. The returnee status is a good thing, but a raise should accompany every assignment, not just the second!
Sorry, I've been a little long winded today, RG!
