17th January 2010, 02:28 PM
Having listened to the IFA session at TAG last month, it is clear that the profession needs a union who know what their responsibilities are to their members, representing them for the improvement of working conditions while still being sympathetic to the needs of those paying for the archaeology. IFA came out of that sesson, in my mind, as a weak-willed institution making the attempt to pass the buck (briefly to EH which was interesting) but never really getting round to even passing it.
As someone trying to get into archaeology after completing a degree that has cost around ?20000 in loans it is dispiriting to see what the next 10 years currently hold- unemployment followed by badly paid archaeological nomadism.
Although it does mean i don't need to pay the loan back for quite a while. I'm not in archaeology for the money (luckily) but it would be good to have a union that pushes for more respect between the archaeological and building workers as from the few sites i have worked on, the (un-named water company) employers viewed us as irritating obstacles which had to be cleared, putting us in the same catagory as bank voles and badgers.
Infact our mammalian cousins got more respect from the company because any infringement of the law would have cost ?5000.
Unionise now and do it properly, either through Prospect/Unison or through our own. As others have pointed out through, the majority of archaeologists would need to join, which would naturally lead to an argument. It always seems to.:face-stir:
As someone trying to get into archaeology after completing a degree that has cost around ?20000 in loans it is dispiriting to see what the next 10 years currently hold- unemployment followed by badly paid archaeological nomadism.
Although it does mean i don't need to pay the loan back for quite a while. I'm not in archaeology for the money (luckily) but it would be good to have a union that pushes for more respect between the archaeological and building workers as from the few sites i have worked on, the (un-named water company) employers viewed us as irritating obstacles which had to be cleared, putting us in the same catagory as bank voles and badgers.
Infact our mammalian cousins got more respect from the company because any infringement of the law would have cost ?5000.
Unionise now and do it properly, either through Prospect/Unison or through our own. As others have pointed out through, the majority of archaeologists would need to join, which would naturally lead to an argument. It always seems to.:face-stir:
4 inch archaeologist\'s pointing troll- the next big thing for small find management