Re: Big bucks in tech writing - show me the money!

Subject: Re: Big bucks in tech writing - show me the money!
From: "Steve Arrants" <stephen -dot- arrants -at- attbi -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 05:53:43 -0700


"Andrew Plato" <gilliankitty -at- yahoo -dot- com> writes:
> --- Steve Arrants <stephen -dot- arrants -at- attbi -dot- com> wrote:
>
> > No, the article from the NWU talks about how organized workers
successfully
> > had a regulation passed by the legislature and signed by the governor to
> > ensure a benefit for a class of workers. Certainly a miracle given that
the
> > NWU didn't have to give large campaign contributions to anyone involved.
>
> Actually, if you read what the NWU did, they basically are helping to kill
the
> tech writer contract market in California. Because they successfully
lobbied to
> get writers included in overtime provisions (where engineers, programmers,
etc.
> are not) many larger companies are just going to kill off hiring tech
writers on
> contract now. Alternatively, they will outsource the jobs en masse to
companies
> and then not have to even worry about overtime pay. They pay one flat rate
to the
> tech writing firm.

I don't think there's evidence that the NWU killed the technical writing
market, at least not evidence that it did it by itself. There are a lot of
factors that feed into the current depressed job market. There just aren't
jobs available right now. That's not the NWU's doing. That's the
recession.

It is a curious situation. If a company hires you as a 1099, they have to
worry about the IRS reclassifying the 1099 contractor as a W-2 employee.
But 1099s aren't subject to those wage and hour laws. If a company
outsources to a recruiting firm/job shop, you're a W-2 employee and you are
subject to the wage an hour laws.

> This is synonymous with the contractor rulings about 5 years ago at
Microsoft.
> Where people used to work for years on high-paying contracts, because some
union
> members felt unloved, they successfully sued and managed to kill the
entire
> contracting industry. Now people who were sitting on 3 and 4 year
contracts at
> great rates had to be laid off at the 12 month mark so as not to violate
some new
> law. This put a lot of people out of work.


Well, no, it isn't. The Microsoft situation didn't deal with a wage and
hour law, but with the (mis)classification of 1099 contractors. The 1099
contractors were employees in everything but name only. The 1099s at
Microsoft failed the IRS test. Microsoft didn't want to pay the additional
burdened operating costs of an employee vs. an independent contractor, and
now they're paying for it.

> So in a sense, this legislation, hurts their own members more than it
helps them.
> Now the business will go to tech writing consulting firms and out of
state.

They've been doing that before and after the regulation. Businesses have
always used outside firms to do work such as QA, writing, etc. I don't think
there is evidence that this regulation has on the whole hurt
California-based writers. I haven't heard of any writers here in California
saying that they lost a job because of this regulation. Actually, writers
are cheap compared to software engineers. More and more software
engineering is being oursourced overseas, as are support functions.

I think that the movement of jobs offshore is an important topic--especially
for technical writers, but I'm not sure that this is the right forum for the
discussion.

> And I am not speaking here from something I read off a web site. I've run
a
> business for 8+ years. And I can tell you that its downright impossible
sometimes
> to make money if you follow all the insane laws out there.

And I've contracted for most of the past 10 years. And yes, there are laws
and regulations that seem to make no sense. But there are lots that do make
sense. Gotta give lawyers something to do, I guess.

> > I don't think the NWU wants to crush all the recruiters, just the ones
that
> > don't follow the law.
> >
> > As to driving every last profit making company out of California, the
> > companies themselves are doing that in a lot of ways. I'm sure we can
all
> > relate the boneheaded things that companies do to make sure that the
> > quarterly report shows a profit.
> Yes, companies do a lot of boneheaded things to hurt profitability. And
> apparently one of the newest boneheaded things will be hiring contract
writers in
> California.

You sound a bit like the business owners who fought against the last minimum
wage increase or against "living wage" legislation. Any increase in the
minimum wage or increased regulation would cause business failure.
Companies would close down because they couldn't maintain profitability.
Workers would be laid off in droves. The sky would fall and the Dark Ages
would return. Didn't happen. Workers' wages has less to do with
profitability than detractors would like us to believe.

In any case, I suspect that most techwr-l readers are probably bored by this
discussion, since not everyone is in California, and not everyone cares
about this topic. The whole wage and hour thing is a hot button with me. I
support the regulation. That's not to say that I think anyone who doesn't
exercise the right to overtime is a scab. In a 900-hour contract, are 10
hours of overtime worth the hassle? Probably not. "Goodwill" doesn't have
an immediate dollar cost.
And there will always be cheaper writers, someone who will take $15/hour
instead of $40/hour. And in rare cases, the tradeoff will be worth it. But
that's another discussion.



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References:
Re: Big bucks in tech writing - show me the money!: From: Andrew Plato

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