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Poll: Would you join a union for translators that would regulate rates and have better payment standards?
Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
ProZ.com Staff
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Jun 5, 2019

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Would you join a union for translators that would regulate rates and have better payment standards?".

This poll was originally submitted by Helene Olsen Richards. View the poll results »



Shatlyk Penayev
Abdelfatah Bourouies
Paul Murga
 
neilmac
neilmac
Spain
Local time: 11:33
Spanish to English
+ ...
No Jun 5, 2019

Even though I come from a long-standing left-wing background, I'm afraid the answer would be no. I was once a trade union member and they did nothing for me when I needed assistance. Once bitten, twice shy.

[Edited at 2019-06-05 08:13 GMT]

PS: It's not that I'm against trade unions per se, but I don't think it would be any use to me in my situation, as a self-employed freelancer. I don't see how any newly formed union organisation would be able to enforce anything that would
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Even though I come from a long-standing left-wing background, I'm afraid the answer would be no. I was once a trade union member and they did nothing for me when I needed assistance. Once bitten, twice shy.

[Edited at 2019-06-05 08:13 GMT]

PS: It's not that I'm against trade unions per se, but I don't think it would be any use to me in my situation, as a self-employed freelancer. I don't see how any newly formed union organisation would be able to enforce anything that would benefit me or any other potential members.

[Edited at 2019-06-05 08:15 GMT]
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Catherine Pawlick
Colleen Roach, PhD
Peter van der Hoek
Philip Lees
Amanda Fang
Nikolay Novitskiy
 
The Misha
The Misha
Local time: 06:33
Russian to English
+ ...
Nooooooooooooo! Jun 5, 2019

Unions made sense for semi-literate industrial workers at the time Karl Marx wrote his half-baked treatise. These days they are just a type of legalized blackmail of the silent majority by a (generally) very assertive minority that is always - ALWAYS! - trying to grab a larger share of the pie just because they can, or think they can. As a business owner, why would I condone that kind of behavior?

As a separate reason, the last thing I want is the government or anyone else for that
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Unions made sense for semi-literate industrial workers at the time Karl Marx wrote his half-baked treatise. These days they are just a type of legalized blackmail of the silent majority by a (generally) very assertive minority that is always - ALWAYS! - trying to grab a larger share of the pie just because they can, or think they can. As a business owner, why would I condone that kind of behavior?

As a separate reason, the last thing I want is the government or anyone else for that matter telling me how to run my business and live my life.
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JaneTranslates
Tanja K
Nikolay Novitskiy
 
Ar.Transl.Oa (X)
Ar.Transl.Oa (X)
Local time: 13:33
Arabic to English
+ ...
It depends .. Jun 5, 2019

It depends on how transparent this union is and if there is a real supervision and monitoring for them, because this union could be a friend or a destroyer (mafia) of the translator.

 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:33
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
Other Jun 5, 2019

In the US it's against the law to set rates. It's called price-fixing. We have a sad history of getting in legal trouble when we tried to do it. If we were allowed to, we wouldn't be seeing rates fall the way they are doing now.

There is an international group that meets and negotiates rates for agencies in the United Nations system. That has been helpful for those of us who work for such organizations.

[Edited at 2019-06-05 08:57 GMT]


Catherine Pawlick
Angie Garbarino
Laura Nagle (X)
 
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 10:33
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Other Jun 5, 2019

Do you mean translators all over the world? Dream on! I just can’t see how that would work as we live in very different conditions. I belong to several translator associations (national and international) and they do try to deal with these issues.

Catherine Pawlick
Kevin Fulton
 
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Kay-Viktor Stegemann
Germany
Local time: 11:33
English to German
In memoriam
No Jun 5, 2019

I don't want my rates regulated, I'm quite happy with what I can negotiate and I do not want to be restricted to any kind of "statutory" rates.

Richard Purdom
Philippe Etienne
Thayenga
ahartje
John Fossey
Tanya Quintieri
Egor Shapurov
 
maryblack
maryblack  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 05:33
Member (2013)
Spanish to English
+ ...
great idea... not very feasible Jun 5, 2019

I only wish we could regulate rates, but with translation/interpreting being a worldwide industry with many players, large and small, I can't see how regulated rates would be remotely enforceable.

Christine Andersen
kjkjkj
 
Angie Garbarino
Angie Garbarino  Identity Verified
Local time: 11:33
Member (2003)
French to Italian
+ ...
Not only in the USA Jun 5, 2019

Muriel Vasconcellos wrote:

In the US it's against the law to set rates. It's called price-fixing. We have a sad history of getting in legal trouble when we tried to do it. If we were allowed to, we wouldn't be seeing rates fall the way they are doing now.

There is an international group that meets and negotiates rates for agencies in the United Nations system. That has been helpful for those of us who work for such organizations.

[Edited at 2019-06-05 08:57 GMT]


Also in Europe https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/selling-in-eu/competition-between-businesses/index_en.htm


Veronika Malíková
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
 
Maria da Glória Teixeira
Maria da Glória Teixeira  Identity Verified
Brazil
Local time: 07:33
Member (2020)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
Difficult Jun 5, 2019

I even wish I had a union that could regulate fees, but I find it very difficult to have that control.

 
Kevin Fulton
Kevin Fulton  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 06:33
German to English
Minimum rates tend to become maximum rates Jun 5, 2019

A world-wide union is unfeasible for a variety of economic and political factors.

Having belonged to various unions (Steelworkers, Communications Workers of America), I'm not anti-union in principle. Furthermore, a union of entrepreneurs is absurd, if you think about it.

What might be a dream rate in China would be untenable in the United States. In the 1970s, working part-time with an IBM memory typewriter I was already getting five cents/word. When I started transla
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A world-wide union is unfeasible for a variety of economic and political factors.

Having belonged to various unions (Steelworkers, Communications Workers of America), I'm not anti-union in principle. Furthermore, a union of entrepreneurs is absurd, if you think about it.

What might be a dream rate in China would be untenable in the United States. In the 1970s, working part-time with an IBM memory typewriter I was already getting five cents/word. When I started translating full-time in the early 1980s when desktop computers became available, I was being paid six cents/word. Thirty-five years later I'm getting unsolicited offers of five cents/word or even less. Assuming five cents/word (or less!) as the going rate in parts of the non-European world, setting this as the minimum rate would make a lot of people happy, but would force most American and European translators out of business due to the application of Gresham's Law to translation.
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Kay-Viktor Stegemann
ahartje
Christine Andersen
Philippe Etienne
Eckhard Boehle
Julio Madrid
Yvonne Gallagher
 
Fiona Grace Peterson
Fiona Grace Peterson  Identity Verified
Italy
Local time: 11:33
Italian to English
This Jun 5, 2019

The sad truth is that...

Kevin Fulton wrote:

Minimum rates tend to become maximum rates


 
DZiW (X)
DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
+ ...
One man army Jun 5, 2019

So, agencies are allegedly ok to set low-bottom rates (via 'averages' and 'discounts') whereas translators cannot set the minimum rate because of price-fixing and 'unethical practices', yep? If not milking then wording.

While I'm working with direct clients only, I could consider joining a dedicated union of worthy colleagues and decent lawyers, yet the capitalism attitude rulez...


 
Yaotl Altan
Yaotl Altan  Identity Verified
Mexico
Local time: 04:33
Member (2006)
English to Spanish
+ ...
Yes Jun 5, 2019

We need to protect the rookie translators and , generally speaking, our rates. Some agencies have an exploitative and predatory practices.

Furthermore, as we have seen through history and, particularly during these 4 neoliberal decades, market NEVER regulates itself.


 
Muriel Vasconcellos
Muriel Vasconcellos  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 03:33
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
A lesson from history Jun 5, 2019

In 1972, I belonged to The American Association of Language Specialists (TAALS), long defunct. Before we got in trouble, we set the "recommended" rate at USD 0.10 per word. Some of us were already getting that rate. That was 47 years ago. The purchasing power of the US dollar has increased five-fold since then, yet there are still agencies and translators talking about rates lower than USD 0.10.

The problem with a union is: Who do you negotiate with? In the UN system, there are par
... See more
In 1972, I belonged to The American Association of Language Specialists (TAALS), long defunct. Before we got in trouble, we set the "recommended" rate at USD 0.10 per word. Some of us were already getting that rate. That was 47 years ago. The purchasing power of the US dollar has increased five-fold since then, yet there are still agencies and translators talking about rates lower than USD 0.10.

The problem with a union is: Who do you negotiate with? In the UN system, there are parties on both sides of the table. I think the only way a union would work would be if it used the UN rates as an example and started to negotiate with the largest agencies, one by one. Otherwise, there's not much a union could do except remind translators that current rates are not high enough to support full-time freelance translation as a profession in many parts of the world.

Working conditions are another story. TAALS successfully negotiated improved hours and booth conditions for simultaneous interpreters. But freelance translators? We get to negotiate our working conditions every time we accept a job.
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Christine Andersen
Philippe Etienne
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Eckhard Boehle
 
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Poll: Would you join a union for translators that would regulate rates and have better payment standards?






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