My sources say rural Texas is where the problem is. Might I humbly suggest looking at why people don’t want to cover rural Texas? Wait, here’s one. Pull people from undervalued Philadelphia and New York City. Give them relocation bonuses. In fact, go on my Rates Discussion Page where there are thousands of us and let people know that if their rates are too low, Texas is happy to have them. You can also go to Stenonymous.com, sort by relevance, and type in the words “shortage solutions.” There are 16 of them. The first one was from 2019. So Christopher Fucking Day beat TEXDRA to figuring out this was a thing we should be addressing by about half a decade. I’m not kidding, but this is most certainly a joke.
Also, you can tell this isn’t meant to get people’s ideas. If you wanted people’s ideas, you’d give them your ideas and let them build off them pre-meeting, kind of like what I’ve done pretty much every damn day for the last several years. It’s pretty clear to me that you’re getting people together in order to do what associations have done since time immemorial and tell them how to think rather than actually listening to their concerns. And again, sources say you don’t listen to your members’ concerns, so I have pretty much zero respect for TEXDRA as an organization at this point in history.
And why the need for exclusivity? Wouldn’t you want anyone with ideas to help solve your “problem?” For example, if I was genuinely trying to solve the shortage, I’d take the millions of dollars we waste on NCRA and start a school, or an information campaign, or just about anything that isn’t giving money to associations so that they can corral people into mindsets beneficial to their board members and the companies those board members represent. (This happens in New York too.) Heck, even just putting together some money for educators like Allie Hall who have shown that students can graduate within a year is a route that could be taken. Have her or others like her design a program that expedites the “student to scrivener” pipeline.
I’ll also say this: Company owners, inclusive of reporting firms and schools, have a financial interest in making the shortage seem as large possible so that we recruit more and more people. As the supply of court reporters rises and demand stays pretty much where it is, the rates will fall. This is pretty much indisputable and in the public view since I’ve written about it so many times. Pretty sure that at least one TEXDRA leader is a company owner according to discussions I’ve had with sources in the past. Sources say some on the board might be involved with or take work from big boxes. Big boxes benefit so much from exaggerating the shortage that some of them committed fraud to do it. Not hard to connect the dots screaming to be connected. They want to privatize the remainder of our public sector jobs and enjoy their little oligopoly where you play by their rules or starve.
Sorry if this seems a little angry. It is. These fucking people have the nerve to go on and on about how the shortage is real in their little closed-door meetings but can’t be bothered to do anything that someone actually trying to solve a problem would. Individuals are making more progress on solving localized shortages than entire associations. The whole thing is backwards.
For a fuller picture on why I am angry, NCRA’s pretty much admitted the shortage was not as bad as forecasted. STRONG itself said Ducker was outdated. I personally spent a lot of time and energy documenting that the statistics on our field were wonky and Ducker had holes. There’s also the indisputable fact that our median pay should not be taking a small hit during a time of “unprecedented shortage.” Also the scare tactic of “if you don’t do something, something will happen” is a propaganda technique called “appeal to fear.” I should know. I use propaganda techniques to tell the truth and raise consumer awareness.
Let’s not mention that there’s a meeting that will address this very topic coming up on May 17th. Why were members not encouraged to go there with their ideas?
This smells bad. And quite frankly I hope TEXDRA members are smart enough to see through it and throw your asses out for good. You deserve it.
P.S.
You can screen record meetings using OBS software.
Addendum:
5/21/24: I’ve seen a screenshot asking for court reporters to fill out a survey to determine whether the shortage exists and to what extent. I find the questions a bit lacking and am monitoring this situation as much as I can from New York.
