Whether we are classified as professional/white collar/blue collar/whatever is purely an ego driven argument. It really doesn’t matter. Typically, highly skilled and specialised tradesmen earn far more than someone who scraped through 3 years of uni, got a job in the city and began calling themselves white collar professionals anyway – especially if the tradesman is willing to work away/shifts (sound familiar?) Tailwheel has listed some good reasons why we should be fairly compensated; I could probably add 100 more.