28th July 2014, 11:28 PM
Pay and conditions is an old problem that in my view can only have two possible (and one ridiculously unlikely) solutions: Valletta is adopted wholesale and licensing is drafted in. Arguably, this would/could transform a service industry into a profession. Commercial units offer consultancy in-house (increasingly a contemporary model) to avoid waving goodbye to the large sums of money that Clients hand over to stand-alone consultancies. This would enable commercial units to offer a complete package to Clients and would significantly increase income-hence an ability to improve pay and conditions? The wildly ideal but ridiculously unlikely answer would be to shift public opinion and political will into a position where the tax-paying voters value their collectively owned heritage so much that they are willing to either pay more taxes or, increase the costs of mortgages 
This is probably going to get me hammered but........ pay and conditions are actually improving in real terms in comparison with my first steps in archaeology (12k a year, no PPE, no health and safety, two week contracts blah blah blah). Things are better but it has taken enough time to accumulate 3m of modern strat. Archaeology is and to my knowledge always has been the lowest paid job a UK graduate can walk into. I certainly don`t advocate a maintenance of the status quo but I do sleep better at night when all of my days are not spent gritting my teeth about it. I spent the best part of ten years ranting about how sh*t it all is whilst loving every minute of my job. Once I accepted that I would never own my own house and just enjoyed my job, life was easier. I did walk away and spent nearly four years away from the trenches. Money was good but I hated it. Can`t win.
Truth is (for me at least) is that I`m done with ranting. There are ways and means of increasing your income (not involving clingfilm bikinis and street corners I may add) and one effective way of doing that is to take your field experience and enhance it by widening your skill-set. Fact is-field archaeologists will never be paid on a par with other specialists...I know that is wrong and that it drives us nuts but that`s how it is. In simple terms, there are reasonably well-paid jobs in the heritage sector.....hunt them, hunt the skills needed to apply for them and invest in your own CPD. Increase in experience, skills, knowledge and levels of responsibility = exponential increases in income. Tiz a natural progression.
This is probably going to get me hammered but........ pay and conditions are actually improving in real terms in comparison with my first steps in archaeology (12k a year, no PPE, no health and safety, two week contracts blah blah blah). Things are better but it has taken enough time to accumulate 3m of modern strat. Archaeology is and to my knowledge always has been the lowest paid job a UK graduate can walk into. I certainly don`t advocate a maintenance of the status quo but I do sleep better at night when all of my days are not spent gritting my teeth about it. I spent the best part of ten years ranting about how sh*t it all is whilst loving every minute of my job. Once I accepted that I would never own my own house and just enjoyed my job, life was easier. I did walk away and spent nearly four years away from the trenches. Money was good but I hated it. Can`t win.
Truth is (for me at least) is that I`m done with ranting. There are ways and means of increasing your income (not involving clingfilm bikinis and street corners I may add) and one effective way of doing that is to take your field experience and enhance it by widening your skill-set. Fact is-field archaeologists will never be paid on a par with other specialists...I know that is wrong and that it drives us nuts but that`s how it is. In simple terms, there are reasonably well-paid jobs in the heritage sector.....hunt them, hunt the skills needed to apply for them and invest in your own CPD. Increase in experience, skills, knowledge and levels of responsibility = exponential increases in income. Tiz a natural progression.