12th January 2011, 03:24 PM
(This post was last modified: 12th January 2011, 06:56 PM by moreno.)
It's a massive effort to unionise archaeological labour and an unfortunate situation not to have in place a system of accountablility towards a best pratice for the tech (field) staff. Here in the UK for all intent and purpose the IFA aims to fill the role toward 'business' accountability toward archaeological practise (RAO's, codes, guidelines and standards for example). Generally, it appears that commercial archaeology business aims are not congruent with unionisation.
I haven't come across the example in Virginia, but admittedly I haven't worked in commerical archaeology on the west coast in years. Comparably though, this situation is not unlike those that occur on research projects using local often untrained labour with mixed success.
At the end of the day exploitation of labour (under whatever guise you wish to place it under) is the unfortunate reality. By all means this doesn't mean we can't work towards and set up a fairer and more suitable best practise for field staff. The problem is getting "business" to develop a social conscience to accept it. What end do we as field staff have to go to? Who wants to put their neck out if someone without a job (unskilled, skilled, scabs or temp) is williing to take their place? There simply appears to be no leverage at our end.
I haven't come across the example in Virginia, but admittedly I haven't worked in commerical archaeology on the west coast in years. Comparably though, this situation is not unlike those that occur on research projects using local often untrained labour with mixed success.
At the end of the day exploitation of labour (under whatever guise you wish to place it under) is the unfortunate reality. By all means this doesn't mean we can't work towards and set up a fairer and more suitable best practise for field staff. The problem is getting "business" to develop a social conscience to accept it. What end do we as field staff have to go to? Who wants to put their neck out if someone without a job (unskilled, skilled, scabs or temp) is williing to take their place? There simply appears to be no leverage at our end.
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.