17th March 2006, 02:53 PM
Reggie,
It is not just your position by any means. On Kevin's Outwage site I counted 10 other companies paying the minimum (plus or minus a couple of pounds per week. That's a lot of archaeologists, and only a fraction of them are going to be new and inexperienced. I just can't understand why they accept it.
Thinking back to when I was starting out I was not even aware if there were recomended minimum rates, and like you I was happy to have a job with relatively little experience. It didn't take me very long at all to do some comparative shopping on pay scales and to demand more than the minimum rate, which I got. And when I get a better offer I usually change employer. This strategy has led me to what I consider to be the best paying archaeological employer in the UK for what I do.
I feel very strongly that it is [u]not </u>just the yearly cohort of new and inexperienced archs to the profession that is holding wages down. It is the apathy and acceptance of poor wages by [u]experienced archaeologists.</u> The former I can understand, the latter stumps me completely.
It is not just your position by any means. On Kevin's Outwage site I counted 10 other companies paying the minimum (plus or minus a couple of pounds per week. That's a lot of archaeologists, and only a fraction of them are going to be new and inexperienced. I just can't understand why they accept it.
Thinking back to when I was starting out I was not even aware if there were recomended minimum rates, and like you I was happy to have a job with relatively little experience. It didn't take me very long at all to do some comparative shopping on pay scales and to demand more than the minimum rate, which I got. And when I get a better offer I usually change employer. This strategy has led me to what I consider to be the best paying archaeological employer in the UK for what I do.
I feel very strongly that it is [u]not </u>just the yearly cohort of new and inexperienced archs to the profession that is holding wages down. It is the apathy and acceptance of poor wages by [u]experienced archaeologists.</u> The former I can understand, the latter stumps me completely.