11th May 2010, 10:50 AM
I'm aware of the theory....
'listen to our fair demands and negotiate better pay/conditions etc. or we walk out...'
Hi
Question, how many archaeologist strikes have you ever seen? Not many, if any, would be my guess.
Strangely, I have experience of a country where archaeologists do go on strike, have done so regularly over the past 20 years. The strikes last a day, or two at most. They are days of action against goverment policy, not arm-wrestling with management. They are not designed to compromise the employer organisation. But then,t here, the employers are on strike too...The reason they strike has always been the same, a long passionate struggle for the maintenance of a state archaeological service in the belief that this is the only way to ensure conservation of the national heritage. I dont believe in twenty years they have once been on strike about pay and conditions.
However, through a high degree of union representation at work, they have been able to negotiate realistic professional pay scales, travel allowances, accommodation grants, in-hours travel times, limitations on away from home working. Archaeologists - site assistants - own houses and cars, dont have to live out of a rucksack, or with the parents, have long-term contracts - once they have passed the magic threshold and got the magic job - can still afford to be site assistants at 40 or more...
What unions are, what they do, is, I agree with a previous contributor, something that got lost in the process in the UK. Its not all about confrontation and stand-offs, its about representation, dialogue, articulation, defense of the law...and ultimately, about becoming collaborators in the future of our profession not simply its recipients, as is too often the case, a fact that deeply colours - our employer's attitude to us, our experience of our work, and our attitude towards the archaeology we practise.
'listen to our fair demands and negotiate better pay/conditions etc. or we walk out...'
Hi
Question, how many archaeologist strikes have you ever seen? Not many, if any, would be my guess.
Strangely, I have experience of a country where archaeologists do go on strike, have done so regularly over the past 20 years. The strikes last a day, or two at most. They are days of action against goverment policy, not arm-wrestling with management. They are not designed to compromise the employer organisation. But then,t here, the employers are on strike too...The reason they strike has always been the same, a long passionate struggle for the maintenance of a state archaeological service in the belief that this is the only way to ensure conservation of the national heritage. I dont believe in twenty years they have once been on strike about pay and conditions.
However, through a high degree of union representation at work, they have been able to negotiate realistic professional pay scales, travel allowances, accommodation grants, in-hours travel times, limitations on away from home working. Archaeologists - site assistants - own houses and cars, dont have to live out of a rucksack, or with the parents, have long-term contracts - once they have passed the magic threshold and got the magic job - can still afford to be site assistants at 40 or more...
What unions are, what they do, is, I agree with a previous contributor, something that got lost in the process in the UK. Its not all about confrontation and stand-offs, its about representation, dialogue, articulation, defense of the law...and ultimately, about becoming collaborators in the future of our profession not simply its recipients, as is too often the case, a fact that deeply colours - our employer's attitude to us, our experience of our work, and our attitude towards the archaeology we practise.