Pay rises may be late this year...

[BAJR Host]

News:

quote:Negotiations between local government employers and the trade unions will not begin until January 2007 and could take some time. It is possible that the scales will not be available until after 1 April 2007.

As the minima pay scales for PIFA,AIFA,MIFA are based on Local Goverment scales, there could be a bit of a wait this year. Is this being considered?

Difficult to budget for if you have to tender for jobs months in advance.

On the Wakefield Unison Site http://www.wakefield-unison.org.uk/pay_consultation.htm , they explain the background... and amusingly :face-huh: are asking for :

quote:In conclusion, the UNISON NJC Committee agreed to consult branches on the basis of the following:
A percentage increase of 3.5% or 5%

BAJR is also requesting a 5% rise... rather than an inflationary rise...

Some other figures for your delictation

quote:Economic and Other Factors
Below are the headline figures for your consideration.

# RPI 3.4%, CPI 2.5% - August 2006
# Predicted inflation of 3.0% for 2007
# Average earnings increase across whole economy was 3.7% in quarter to July 2006
# Predicted earnings growth, 4.3% over 2007
# Government policy re public sector pay is to limit increase to 2%

Household costs

The overall price paid for fuel and light in real terms has risen to 12%. Household water bills have increased by 11% since January 2006. Council tax bills have risen on average by 4.5% this year.

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[Oxbeast]

I'm all for a 5% rise, and cheers to BAJR for doing all he can for this. I suspect any management consultant run benchmarking exercise worth its salt will have to call for more than this. As someone at the bottom of the ladder, people in local government also have the advantage over me in terms of union recognition, transparent demarcation, proper contracts and far greater sucurity of employment. Oh, and pensions. I'd love to see some of these things in archaeology as well.

[troll]

The current fanfare over wage increases really should be a bit more honest in its presentation.Any forthcoming payrises (particularly for field staff) are likely to be demeaning and, "phased in over years". Some of my colleagues have been waiting for over twenty years to be treated in a way slightly above that than a toilet cleaner so "to be phased in over years" and "an extra pound a day" is simply taking the p*** and nothing more than gesturing and shallow window-dressing.:face-huh:

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[BAJR Host]

Sad but true Troll, but it is a over and above what is asked for... it may be taking the pE but it is a start .. and nobody has ever tried to move the wages up more than inflation.. to the levels that are required. According to my calculations some wages may have to rise c. 40% and we all know that no company could ever cope with that in one year... everyone would go under in months... seriously... but over a period of years... they can move up in a way that people can maintain..

The coise to me is clear... a small rise each year... and a eral change... or a wham bam.. whap on a massive rise.. and then everyone meets at the dole... becasue the first eyars worth of wages would cripple all the companies...and that helps no-one.

I am with you... I have been waiting a score of years too.. to see my skills and contributions repaid with a sensible wage... but now I can see it close.... but am prepared to walk (well I am pushing for a jog) to the finish line.

"No job worth doing was ever done on time or under budget.."
Khufu

[troll]

I admire your tenacity sir and have to say that without your work-we would`nt even be close to the required changes.I think at this rate, we should be honest enough to warn potential undergrads that they will be near retirement before they can expect a wage that reflects even a fraction of their "professional" expectations.We should also warn the older hacks that well, maybe it is time to get real jobs outside of an industry that does`nt have the gumption to simply pass the rises onto the clients.Overnight, clients would find a bit of a shock in that they have to pay more for the service.They`ve absorbed similar shocks before-the world won`t fall apart.After all-they`re quite happy to pay consultants 800 or so a day.Please don`t think we don`t appreciate your efforts sir-we do, we`re just bored with the IFAs endless "tommorrow" attitude whilst in the same breath it bigs-up "the many benefits of membership".:face-huh:

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[roywhiting]

quote from Troll '-the world won`t fall apart.After all-they`re quite happy to pay consultants 800 or so a day.'

really? If so, tell me which consultancy and I'll apply for a job there. That figure is pie-in-the-sky from my experience.

I can't see a general consenses for suddenly ramping up the payments for archaeology ever happening either. Firstly most clients would simply refuse to pay in the face of huge pay hikes. Secondly individual companies desire for work inevitably leads to undercutting each other - driving prices down. A problem caused and sustained by archaeologists.

[troll]

A problem caused and sustained by firstly-garbage guidence and a runaway competative tendering system where interpretation of "the minimum" is big business and secondly, an environment where professional standards are dilluted and their contravention ignored by a complacent fantasy institute with no legal standing.On the consultancy fee issue, that figure is a couple of years old already.Pay rises aside, government and the IFA have been at least consistant in de-valuing the nations heritage and the offer of piffling rises over years can be seen as nothing more than crumbs from the table.The big issues are not being confronted and in fact, are being brushed quietly under the carpet in order to maintain the interests of business at a huge cost to finite resources.:face-huh:

..knowledge without action is insanity and action without knowledge is vanity..(imam ghazali,ayyuhal-walad)

[roywhiting]

:face-confused:Again I have to disagree. The inclusion of archaeological issues within development work has never been higher. Awareness of archaeology has grown and continues to grow within 'big business' and consultancy. Clients seem to be perfectly amenable to including archaeological issues when scoped in to assessment from an early stage, and even when its not. And their treatment of archaeology, from my field and consultancy experience, goes beyond 'doing the minimum'.

If we're talking £800 a day consultancy fees we are also talkng very senior consultants who make up a tiny proportion of archaeological consultancy. And for the work these top-level people do - public enquiry etc they probably deserve every penny.

[1man1desk]

Posted by Troll:

quote:After all-they`re quite happy to pay consultants 800 or so a day.'

I have never come across such a figure for an archaeological consultant, and I am in a very good position to know. If Troll has encountered such a fee level for an archaeologist, it must have been a very exceptional, one-off circumstance.

In reality, that would represent the fees for someone at senior director level in a major, international consultancy firm (i.e. the kind of firm that employs over 40,000 people spread across the world). I know, because I see the fee levels for this sort of person on a regular basis.

I have never encountered an actual archaeologist at that level in one of these companies, although some of them do have archaeologists in fairly senior management positions.

In my experience, typical archaeological consultancy rates vary between about £25 and £45 an hour (£187.50 to £337.50 a day), depending on the experience and seniority of the person concerned and on the volume of work they do for the particular client, with a very small minority charging more than that, up to a maximum of around £70 (£525 a day). These are charge rates, mind you, not salaries, and are much more than the person themselves is getting paid. These are figures for 2006.

Compare these with unit charge rates of between around £130 and £300 a day, depending on staff grade, again with a small minority charging higher rates.

True, the consultancy rates are higher than the rates charged by contracting units, but there is a big overlap. Also, the pay differential is significantly less than the charge differential, because consultancy firms (who have high overheads) always employ larger multipliers in calculating their charge rates. This doesn't just apply to archaeology - it is the same, for instance, between civil engineering consultants and contractors.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished