10th November 2009, 10:32 AM
I cannot beleive this question is being put forward.
Archaeologist pay should go up without question. I have been forced to leave a profession I love because of horrendous pay poor conditions and working practices have made it impossible to carry on.
The average wage for a digger with a couple of years experience is approximately ?1000 a month which in the south east virtually impossible to live on especially with a family.
The problem is the lack of formal recognised qualifications for practical archaeology which allows a constant stream of enthusiastic passionate inexperienced archaeologists who are willing to work often for nothing. On the whole they last a few years and drift into a specialism or leave to get a proper job because the want families and houses. There is a hard core of diggers who live with parents share with other diggers or have other means of support.
Commercial archaeology units should set a realistic minimum wage and stick to it, but unfortunately they are either incredibly badly run with huge amounts of mismanagement and waste or they are exploitative. I was recently digging on a huge pipeline job where the diggers were paid approximately ?7.50 an hour and charged out at ?35. The job lasted over a year with very little archaeology being dug but with up to 70 diggers at one point. The contractor didn't care as they were on cost plus and the consultant for the client didn't care as he was also employed.
I have seen appaling disgusting situations that are the norm, such as working in the winter without any welfare facilities. I had to build a tarpaulin lean to to keep out of pouring freezing rain to eat my lunch. I have also seen archaeology in evaluation trenchs covered back over because there wasn't money left in the pot for it to be dug.
Ask any archaeologist and off the record as they are so frightened of losing their jobs they will tell you the same. We should wake up and get in line with main stream construction. No self respecting construction worker would work for archaeology pay and certainly wouldn't put up with the conditions. The average building Labourer earns approximately the same as an archaeologist, often more.
I have heard a county archaeologist say 'can't we get a couple opf groundworkers for the price of an archaeologist' What!!! You wouldn't get one, and if he meant for the amount we were being charged at then what kind of mark up was there?
Please wake up archaeology is still run by the white middle aged middle classes and it needs to change drastically. Unfortunately it wont and the main thing which is being lost is the archaeology just so we can live the dream very sad indeed.
Archaeologist pay should go up without question. I have been forced to leave a profession I love because of horrendous pay poor conditions and working practices have made it impossible to carry on.
The average wage for a digger with a couple of years experience is approximately ?1000 a month which in the south east virtually impossible to live on especially with a family.
The problem is the lack of formal recognised qualifications for practical archaeology which allows a constant stream of enthusiastic passionate inexperienced archaeologists who are willing to work often for nothing. On the whole they last a few years and drift into a specialism or leave to get a proper job because the want families and houses. There is a hard core of diggers who live with parents share with other diggers or have other means of support.
Commercial archaeology units should set a realistic minimum wage and stick to it, but unfortunately they are either incredibly badly run with huge amounts of mismanagement and waste or they are exploitative. I was recently digging on a huge pipeline job where the diggers were paid approximately ?7.50 an hour and charged out at ?35. The job lasted over a year with very little archaeology being dug but with up to 70 diggers at one point. The contractor didn't care as they were on cost plus and the consultant for the client didn't care as he was also employed.
I have seen appaling disgusting situations that are the norm, such as working in the winter without any welfare facilities. I had to build a tarpaulin lean to to keep out of pouring freezing rain to eat my lunch. I have also seen archaeology in evaluation trenchs covered back over because there wasn't money left in the pot for it to be dug.
Ask any archaeologist and off the record as they are so frightened of losing their jobs they will tell you the same. We should wake up and get in line with main stream construction. No self respecting construction worker would work for archaeology pay and certainly wouldn't put up with the conditions. The average building Labourer earns approximately the same as an archaeologist, often more.
I have heard a county archaeologist say 'can't we get a couple opf groundworkers for the price of an archaeologist' What!!! You wouldn't get one, and if he meant for the amount we were being charged at then what kind of mark up was there?
Please wake up archaeology is still run by the white middle aged middle classes and it needs to change drastically. Unfortunately it wont and the main thing which is being lost is the archaeology just so we can live the dream very sad indeed.