McScription, what do you think should be done?

I read this blog post over on MT Exchange called McScription: Catering to America's fast and cheap lifestyle. It was a very interesting article and I thought the poster had a very good point about companies who expect premium work for a sub-premium line rates.

I think we've all worked for the company who doesn't want to pay what you feel you're worth. I've read in numerous places about people pushing for all MTs being required to be certified which to me is just a good way to bite your industry in the ass. I'm a good MT but I've never been certified, the differential for being certified just doesn't make it worth all the extra work and money it would cost to maintain a credential. Sure if companies wanted to pay me the money to make it worth it I would be all for going and becoming certified, I mean it looks nice to have lots of letters after your name, don't we all want to look important? But the simple fact of the matter is if it becomes mandatory for MTs to be credentialled in order to work, it will just make good MTs leave the industry. Then what? There's already a shortage of MTs (or at least that's what I've read), what if they started leaving because they were run out by the requirement for credentials? I guess we'd end up having more outsourcing which would be so bad.

Anyway, we all know the problems in this industry, but what to do about them. I hear people complain about all that is wrong with the way things are, but I don't generally hear what people think should be done about it. What would be your ideal job description? If you could be the boss how would you run things? What line rate do you think this industry should be at? How would you cover the problem of an MT shortage if all of a sudden outsourcing of medical transcription were made illegal. These are all things we as MTs like to complain about but no one is really working on solving the problems or making it known what the solution should be. Tell me what your vision for the perfect MT world would be if it was up to you. Do you feel we need an MT union? It's an interesting thought.