Re: Another Ethical Question

[Steven Read <sread -at- NIRVANA -dot- NOSUBDOMAIN -dot- NODOMAIN>]

In article <9409120910 -dot- A10963 -at- pcmail -dot- cti-pet -dot- com>, Karla McMaster
 <mcmaster%pcmail -dot- cti-pet -dot- com -at- cti-pet -dot- com> writes:
|> "lemming's" post about contracting in Florida made me think about posting
 this
|> question to the list...What do you all think about long-term (i.e., more than
 a
|> year) contracting job situations? About two years ago, I turned down a long-
|> term contracting job, in part because I had an ethical problem with the
|> middleman (contributing only paperwork) getting paid over such a long period.
 I
|> can see placement fees, and short-term contract situations, but this position
|> was going to be at least 18 months, and given that it was government-related,
|> would more likely drag on far longer.

What's wrong with long-term? Most agencies I've dealt with will cut their margin
 back after the first 6 months or a year.
|>
|> My experiences here sound like lemming's experiences in Florida. Most of the
|> technical writing/editing work in this area is
|> contract/subcontract/subsubcontract/etc. In principle, I don't want to
|> participate in this "scam." However, at the time I turned the job down, I
|> already had enough work to keep me going, for the time being. Will I be as
|> tough next time? Is it important? I don't know. What do you all think?
|>
Why is it a "scam"? Agencies find the work, take care of the billing (*I* don't
 have 60 days' money sitting around), and sell you to a far wider audience than
 you could get to on your own. As someone who's contracted for about six years
 overall, I don't understand this hatred of agencies. Oh, and I call them pimps
 as well.

Steve Read