I can't believe that anyone buys into the idea that the plants all work together to set "the price of our time". The plants can get downright cutthroat with each other to make sure their outages are staffed. Do they want to do it at the lowest cost possible? Of course... that is not only their job, but they have a fiscal responsibility to their shareholders to do exactly that. They even bargain with each other when they are sharing techs between plants, even within the same utility. All they care about is staffing and saving. If they had gotten together, they would all pay about the same... and this is not even close to the case. I choose not to work at the plant where I have the most experience and is 15 minutes from my house because the pay is too low (and of course there is the perdiem thing).
Most plants are turning away from hand picking the people they want... the co-employment issues are forcing them to back away from making specific requests. I am sure some let the staffing company know their desires, but requesting techs is getting rarer these days (Correct me if I am wrong, Eric B.)
I, like Melrose, have had a good track record of working where I want to go. I have had specific requests to go to certain sites, but when I have declined it cost me nothing. And there have been very few cases (can only think of one off the top of my head) where I did not get to go to the plant I wanted. I tend to pick the plants that fit into my schedule and pay the best, and so far it has worked very well. If we al pick the higher paying plants and the lower paying ones get short staffed, maybe things will change a little. Maybe not.
This site is full of threads that talk about the inability of techs to unite to improve their positions. Mostly people talk about how divided we are and how 'the others' are making it impossible to get what we want by selling out. The simple fact of the matter is we can't agree becasue we are all looking for something different. To some it is all about the money, to others it is time at home (i.e. with their families), to still others it is about going to places that are comfortable or familiar to them, some go to plants where they can be a supervisor... there are as many reasons as individuals. This industry has always been the home of the maverick, and it will continue to be. I think that is part of what makes it work. I have met an amazing variety of people in the rent-a-tech field -- some I like and some I don't -- and that is part of the charm. I have never been poor working in nuclear plants, and there have only been rare times where I felt poorly used. I don't go back to those places. It is all a matter of personal choice. and I like that very much.