Why do people shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to pay?

[Ike]

Take for example the rates of pay for freelancers at a central London venue. I'm not going to name it as I like my new job and intend to keeping it more than a week.

 

We have humpers at £10 to £20 an hour depending on experience and just how antisocial the hours are, minimum 5 hours

Changeovers (shifting backline etc) £20 for half an hours work

Followspot ops with experiance usually £10 to £15 an hour for a minimum of 5

Runners £10 to £20 plus millage depending on experiance and transport

Cleaners £10

Roped access cleaners £18

JIB qualified/accredited electricians £13.76, no minimum call!

 

Now money certainly isn't my main motivating factor but why the hell do people get out of bed for that? Looking at the invoices on my desk there is still a fair bit of undercutting going on! All the work is pretty nasty: lots of metal conduit, SWA, crap access etc.

 

So what do you think? Stupid electricians or greedy Ike?

[SteveAATW]

Stupid sparkies, but then if they're stuck for work I guess they'll do it. But if they are stuck for work they're obviously not looking hard enough, still a shortage of decent sparkies in most places round the country.

[paulears]

Ike - to be honest, I'm amazed. Not by the sparkie rate, but the fact you pay your people so much money Maybe working in the capital means the National Minimum Wage isn't used - but for us in the regions, the National minimum wage is used by many employers as the starting point. Your cleaners get nearly double what our cleaners get - and some are in a 5am!

[Ynot]

Well, I know that jobs in the ents industry can be a) pretty sporadic in nature (eg 5 hours one day, 12 the next, nowt for a week, then maybe a double shift for 4 days etc) and b) seasonal. That obviously means that hourly rates are often higher to compensate for time 'resting'.

 

But when I look at my own rates for my day job (fully employed 36 hours basic plus OT) mine look not dissimilar to the sparkies, and UNDER the top rates you quote for some jobs there.

 

I get £15.46 an hour, but do get 1.5R for weekdays/saturdays, 1.75R on Sundays

But as I say - that's a day job outside the industry

[Ike]

It's my understanding that the lower rates are the BECTU "concert" rates; that is £10 an hour for humpers, runners etc with a minimum 5 hour call and £20 for changeovers. The higher rates involve more managerial duties, "crew chiefs" etc. The cleaners rate is based upon a normal day of 5am till 8am with a few variations so it's more to compensate for antisocial hours and short calls or whatever that is in cleaners terms. AFAIK the cleaners rate includes tools but not consumables.

 

 

Maybe I'm just in a bad mood...

[Oovis]

The West-End Chief Electrician BECTU minimum is £11.95 per hour for a basic 40 hours a week, just incase anyone wanted to compare a regional pay rate to London ;)

[themadhippy]

The jib rate for an approved sparky with london waiting is £13.33, so looks like your over paying them

[morepowerigor]

Sorry Boys,

 

We expect £200 + vat for 8 eights, normal time, with a weighting for anti-social. And we get it and are very busy. We are also very good and will help solve any problems in our skills spectrum. ;)

 

I agree sparkies under charge for what t hey are expected to know and take the rap for if it goes wobbley.

[Wuddy]

Yep, I agree with morepowerrigor, I net £160.00 per day(8Hrs) after deductions and expenses I wouldn't turn out for less.

 

I'm charging for my experience (thirty years) not my manual skills.