IfA to be abolished and replaced by......

[archaeologyexile]

It seems to me that are pay and conditions are low because we are not,organised be it either through a union or professional organisation. I'm both a MIFA and a in a union and can honestly say neither has helped me and my pay rises have come through the free market and moving around.

I hope that we get charted status and that our conditions improve as a consequence but if we don't join something we remin isolated and free to be picked off by market forces.

I also have to criticise all those old school diggers out there who want to be paid and recognised for just technical skills. I have always considered archaeology an academic vocation. Publication is not just something done in the office it's the whole point and you need to be doing it and indeed that why it has always been so central to MIFA status. If you dig something well if your not publishing it your abrogating responsibility for the record and dont deserve to be a MIFA.

[Dinosaur]

GK- Good post :face-approve:

archaeologyexile - as one of the old school diggers (and proud of it) who prefers to be recognised for my technical site skills, that doesn't mean I don't also do all the office stuff, since I regard that as augmenting my site skills, in that I've therefore actually got a grasp of what all that site paperwork gets ultimately used for (which seems to be sadly rare amongst diggers), which then feeds back into how I actually dig and recoird the site in the first place. That's part of the role of being a good digger, albeit being able to stick a higher % of the mud into a barrow 20' away also counts (and is more fun). I don't do 'management' since I'd be c**p at it [and I don't own a suit], but my hole-creating abilities are recognised with SPO wages and an equivalent level of respect from the management, so actually something along the lines of what GK suggests can be made to work fine, if there's the will :face-thinks:

[Jack]

very well said your bajrness

Agreed.........

[Jack]

Lovely... Harmony and argued debate.

to GK's coherent ideas, I also agree... though this does tend towards the GErman syste, where a 3 year course in the technical aspects of excavation do not make you an archaeologist. but rather a technician - and that sticks in ma craw!

I would however be happy with An Archaeological Technician (thems that do things to the earth) Archaeological Specialists (thems that have machines that go beep or magnifying glasses) and Archaeological Managers. (thems that wear suits and gortex, but win contracts )

A scheme that rewards "good practice" rather than just punishes bad.

much to contemplate






I absolutely agree

you missed out one but struggling to find the words.............them that research, analysis, publish, think, postulate, sometimes get dirty, sometimes use machines that go beep, sometimes do lectures, sometimes advise the other three??

[Dinosaur]

Sounds like an archaeologist in my book

[Jack]

There is a way forward that all should consider, a way used by the ancient Greeks, Romans, and every voting-based society since. The awesome power of the block-vote.

Trust me its a fundamental of all democratic processes, along with lobbying and whips.

But, and its a big butt (hur), we all have to join. We all have to agree. We all have to be active within whichever society it is. We all have to turn up when needed. We all have to vote.

I hate all constituted societies for this simple reason.....democracy is unfair, the bullies always get their way. But, when you use their own rules against them, their house of cards tumbles.

I and another took 'control' of such a society yonks ago using block-voting when a small cabal of influentials were corrupting it. Ooo it was so satisfying watching the horror on their faces when their complaints, sulks, and tantrums came to naught as we were following the rules to the letter.

The only problem is, once started the block-vote needs to be maintained over an extended time so it becomes a war of intrigue, information gathering and pre-emptive strikes.

A bit like running a political party }

[P Prentice]

GK- Good post :face-approve:

archaeologyexile - as one of the old school diggers (and proud of it) who prefers to be recognised for my technical site skills, that doesn't mean I don't also do all the office stuff, since I regard that as augmenting my site skills, in that I've therefore actually got a grasp of what all that site paperwork gets ultimately used for (which seems to be sadly rare amongst diggers), which then feeds back into how I actually dig and recoird the site in the first place. That's part of the role of being a good digger, albeit being able to stick a higher % of the mud into a barrow 20' away also counts (and is more fun). I don't do 'management' since I'd be c**p at it [and I don't own a suit], but my hole-creating abilities are recognised with SPO wages and an equivalent level of respect from the management, so actually something along the lines of what GK suggests can be made to work fine, if there's the will :face-thinks:

precisely :face-approve:

[Dinosaur]

You say that like its something IfA are promoting? So where does that fit into IfA's membership scales then? Can't be a MIFA if you dig holes, that's why they rather belatedly, having spotted their mistake, partitioned-off the muddy ones into a corral called PIFA. IfA have always treated diggers like s**t and offered them nothing, while happily conning their hard-earned cash away from them by telling them some benefit was to be had for it. We're still waiting, 30-some years on...and if charterdom is only going to be for the management types and 'won't affect the workforce' (as I seem to recall has been said somewhere on this thread), that attitude seems set to continue...

[Dinosaur]

...at least they were finally honest enough to drop the 'Field' bit out of the name, anyway...

[Tool]

How are the WhateverIfA or any other group representing such a mall interest supposed to get us higher wages? Where's this extra money going to come from? Doesn't the money for most archaeology ultimately come from construction? How do you persuade a construction company to lose money for no gain?