24th January 2013, 06:29 PM
The IfA is under pressure to ditch its commitment to setting minimum recommended salaries. The Prospect Archaeologists Branch, together with the Diggers Forum, is campaigning to keep the minima.
Currently archaeologists working at PIFA level must be paid at least £15,836 pa, at AIFA level £18,446 pa, and at MIFA level £23,885 pa or their employer risks losing Registered Organisation status with the IfA. The IfA has set minimum salaries since 1996.
In 2008 a working party report showed how far archaeologists pay had fallen behind similar professions: IfA minimum salaries were up to 53% lower than some comparable posts. To redress the balance, the IfA pledged to increase minimum salaries by 13% above inflation for a five-year period. However, this plan was shelved when the recession hit and instead minimum recommended salaries were frozen for two years. There was an increase last year, but now some archaeological employers are pressing for the minimum recommended salaries to be scrapped altogether.
The minimum recommended salaries act as a safety net for the poorest paid in our industry and help in Prospect negotiations with employers over pay. Getting rid of minimum salaries will be a green light to the most unscrupulous employers to drive pay and conditions through the floor. In April last year, the IfA stated that it still intended to increase minima by 13% above inflation 'as soon as economic and market conditions allow'. Later in 2012, a second working party (in which Prospect and others from across the profession, including management, took part) recommended that the IfA should continue to set pay minima.
The current crisis in archaeology was not caused by archaeologists being paid too much. Cutting pay and getting rid of the minima is no solution - it will just make things worse as units compete to cut pay, forcing colleagues out of the profession while those who stay are driven further into poverty.
IfA Council meets on 30 January to make its decision - urge them to keep minimum recommended salaries.
What you can do: email a letter of protest marked 'for the attention of IfA Council' to admin@archaeologists.net (cc to prospectcampaign@hotmail.co.uk) or write to the
IfA Council,
Institute for Archaeologists,
SHES, Whiteknights,
University of Reading,
PO Box 227,
Reading,
RG6 6AB.
Send your email or letter before the meeting on 30 January.
The bigger this protest, the better the chance the minima will be saved.
This email has gone out to all members of the Archaeologists Branch - please encourage others who may not be in our branch to write to the IfA too if they are concerned.
Antony Francis,
Chair, Prospect union Archaeologists Branch
Campaign to keep IfA minimum salaries
Currently archaeologists working at PIFA level must be paid at least £15,836 pa, at AIFA level £18,446 pa, and at MIFA level £23,885 pa or their employer risks losing Registered Organisation status with the IfA. The IfA has set minimum salaries since 1996.
In 2008 a working party report showed how far archaeologists pay had fallen behind similar professions: IfA minimum salaries were up to 53% lower than some comparable posts. To redress the balance, the IfA pledged to increase minimum salaries by 13% above inflation for a five-year period. However, this plan was shelved when the recession hit and instead minimum recommended salaries were frozen for two years. There was an increase last year, but now some archaeological employers are pressing for the minimum recommended salaries to be scrapped altogether.
The minimum recommended salaries act as a safety net for the poorest paid in our industry and help in Prospect negotiations with employers over pay. Getting rid of minimum salaries will be a green light to the most unscrupulous employers to drive pay and conditions through the floor. In April last year, the IfA stated that it still intended to increase minima by 13% above inflation 'as soon as economic and market conditions allow'. Later in 2012, a second working party (in which Prospect and others from across the profession, including management, took part) recommended that the IfA should continue to set pay minima.
The current crisis in archaeology was not caused by archaeologists being paid too much. Cutting pay and getting rid of the minima is no solution - it will just make things worse as units compete to cut pay, forcing colleagues out of the profession while those who stay are driven further into poverty.
IfA Council meets on 30 January to make its decision - urge them to keep minimum recommended salaries.
What you can do: email a letter of protest marked 'for the attention of IfA Council' to admin@archaeologists.net (cc to prospectcampaign@hotmail.co.uk) or write to the
IfA Council,
Institute for Archaeologists,
SHES, Whiteknights,
University of Reading,
PO Box 227,
Reading,
RG6 6AB.
Send your email or letter before the meeting on 30 January.
The bigger this protest, the better the chance the minima will be saved.
This email has gone out to all members of the Archaeologists Branch - please encourage others who may not be in our branch to write to the IfA too if they are concerned.
Antony Francis,
Chair, Prospect union Archaeologists Branch
Campaign to keep IfA minimum salaries
