In 1999 I charged $125/hr for my assembler skills as an APPLICATION programming consultant (through a jobber, even though I had a personal class C corporation at the time). I would think for systems-level skills today 120/hr W2 or 135/hr non-W2 is far too low.
The jobber charged IBM 150/hr for my services (we got into this client via an IBM request to the jobber) and IBM charged the client 175/hr, so major markups were common even back then. As for an existing union, that’s an interesting idea. Not IBEW I think, aren’t they mainly electricians (the hardware side of things)? The other three make more sense. OTOH getting a bunch of programmers (of any type) to agree on which union to join (or to join a union at all) might be the real blocker. Peter From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <[email protected]> On Behalf Of Steve Beaver Sent: Friday, February 6, 2026 12:00 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] mainframe skills - was cross posted We would have to put together a spreadsheet of all IBM Mainframe Skills on a line item basis with a floor rate of $120/Hr W2 or $135/Hr C2C depending on skill Also realizing everyone in the business would have to signon Sent from my iPhone No one said I could type with one thumb > On Feb 6, 2026, at 10:51, Charles Mills > <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > > My guess would be to contact an existing union that seemed relevant. SEIU? > IBEW? CWA? OPEIU? > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_labor_unions_in_the_United_States__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!JaUF4LwOF9ImZx16w1LvTPVqe4GA6a6hcGiT0vSecBEeVYGel5lJOgiaNwHLVbNig_UKHxqjlpvKY5Zr8ERZ1QP-xFkDNcjO3PcApeTO$<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_labor_unions_in_the_United_States__;!!Ebr-cpPeAnfNniQ8HSAI-g_K5b7VKg!JaUF4LwOF9ImZx16w1LvTPVqe4GA6a6hcGiT0vSecBEeVYGel5lJOgiaNwHLVbNig_UKHxqjlpvKY5Zr8ERZ1QP-xFkDNcjO3PcApeTO$> > > Charles <Snipped> -- This message and any attachments are intended only for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is privileged and confidential. If the reader of the message is not the intended recipient or an authorized representative of the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail and delete the message and any attachments from your system. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
