BAJR Pay and Conditions ? 2012 - 2013 - thoughts please

[BAJR]

In short, BAJR is putting forward a 2% rise in salaries, given the commitment by the IfA to a higher rise over time then this is in keeping with their direction and it should be noted that currently RPI is at 4.8% while the CPI stands at 4.2% thus in real terms, rather than a genuine move forward, it is cut, but one that would be much worse without any move and risk losing more staff and skills

To the average digger is will mean an extra ?6 in the hand per week. But more importantly the yearly rate is over the ?16,000 threshold, which is a serious factor for making people feel valued.


If you have any comments, complaints or suggestions, clarifications, corrections please get in touch.. I hope to prepare this to be live for 5th April 2012

info@bajr.org

GRADE pw pa

G1 ?289.00 ?15,054.00
G2 ?308.05 ?16,018.73
G3 ?328.81 ?17,097.51
G3/4 ?343.74 ?17,874.30
G4 ?358.81 ?18,657.84
G4/5 ?385.83 ?20,063.26
G5 ?410.25 ?21,332.86
G5/6 ?464.61 ?24,159.43
G6 ?515.29 ?26,795.17
G7 ?34,523.90

[kevin wooldridge]

Good work David.....you have my support.

[BAJR]

1 down...



thank you Kevin. there is of course a very much more detailed document being sent out to all 303 contractors on my list.

It is not much, but it is something, and the percentil rise is done to specifically break some noticeable barriers... without putting too much pressure on companies

You may note that Cotswolds jobs:
http://www.bajr.org/Employment/UKEmploym...sp?ID=8622


and the NP Archaeology jobs

http://www.bajr.org/Employment/UKEmploym...sp?ID=8625

are both either over or just about at, this new level. THe companies that pay, will get the staff and keep them.
added to this are the criteria that are being presented by teh Diggers Forum. and BAJR is happy to support that, and in return be supported. ( I hope that is the way it works )

[P Prentice]

anything that drives up industry pay and conditions is to be welcomed and putting some clear air between credible employers and shabby self serving exploiters is no bad thing. good job

[bomberh]

The average salary for a grave digger with no qualifications and no skills other than how to use a shovel is ?17,000. It's a shame Archaeology is so undervalued.

[chiz]

David,
good to see the BAJR grades going up, I agree that times are still tough and a much larger increase would have been difficult to acheive. It is good that with the 5.2% increase to IfA minima that those minima are also finally on the increase. We need to keep momentum this year towards decent wage levels, we've a long way to go, but with both the IfA and BAJR rates rising again we are on the way again...

To my mind one of the key reasons that a larger increase would have been hard for many companies is that there are still too many employers keeping down wages and paying right down at the IfA minima. That is why a decent increase in IfA minima was so important this year, and will be for the next few years.

I agree with P Prentice's comments about marking the difference between the better employers, and the worse. One of the key aims of the recommendations in the DF away work and travel report (http://www.archaeologists.net/sites/defa...report.pdf) is to get information on the full range of conditions and wages out in the open, we can then all know what we are going to get, and can compare employers.

Many unit heads and managers are livid at the fact that their competitors pay less, or don't pay travel or accommodation. By opening up the area of away work and travel we can hopefully applaud those who are trying to do the right thing, and vilify those that are letting us all down. Look at the employee scenarios in our report (section 11) to see the real difference travel pay and subs can make to your income. That's why we have the idea of a 'compare the units.com' type website: just as you can compare electricity suppliers to see the best deal, why shouldn't you be able to see that Unit A pays travel whilst Unit B pays none....The DF looks forward to any feedback on the report, the recommendations and any related topics -there's a thread on BAJR here, use our FB page, or just email us at diggers@archaeologists.net.

I'll always support a measure to improve the lot of field archaeologists, and look forward to the day when we have a decent structured career that is financially sustainable from the start to the finish, this is another step on the way,

Chiz

[Dinosaur]

Look at the employee scenarios in our report (section 11) to see the real difference travel pay and subs can make to your income. That's why we have the idea of a 'compare the units.com' type website: just as you can compare electricity suppliers to see the best deal, why shouldn't you be able to see that Unit A pays travel whilst Unit B pays none....

Hooray! Have promoted that idea on here a few times :face-approve:

Wouldn't say the wages around here were the best, but they ain't the worst either; however the fringe benefits are loads better than anywhere else I've ever worked

Ideally diggers would vote against the worst payers with their feet, but I suppose that'll have to wait until there are more jobs around for them to go to.

[kevin wooldridge]

Wouldn't say the wages around here were the best, but they ain't the worst either; however the fringe benefits are loads better than anywhere else I've ever worked

...and therein lies the rub. I know of many archaeologists who accept less in financial rewards, because their employment offers other more ephemeral (and perhaps even ethereal) perks. Could be anything from partner/family are happily settled in a local area to like being able to ride my bicycle to work each day or the guys I work with are total eye candy!!. The problem with league tables (and I tried this for a few years with my 'OutWage' blog) is that such perks or factors are impossible to measure in any comparable terms against money. Inevitably therefore league tables do not measure the strength in depth of an organisation merely its financial clout.

Unless anyone else has a way that factors other than money can be taken into account.....(beyond the old Digger Magazine 'marks out of 10' method).....I would genuinely like to know the most 'beloved' archaeological employer in the UK....and suspect it isn't any of the big 6 units!!

[overseas]

The average salary for a grave digger with no qualifications and no skills other than how to use a shovel is ?17,000. It's a shame Archaeology is so undervalued.

Whilst I fully applaud the work to raise archaeological salaries, it is perhaps time archaeology found a way to clarify for itself and the professional sectors with which we work, the appallingly low rates the highly qualified/experienced - and very hard-working - professionals that we represent, are paid.

Archaeological investigation for threatened heritage sites is a requirement (treaty of malta). Why do we go on behaving - and letting other stakeholders treat us - as if we are indulging a hobby?