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16th November 2011, 06:38 PM
Thought all the 'county' units had been officially 'hived off' (yeah, right), are there still some that are still officially council departments? And if they've been (reputedly) separated how does their wages being linked to council pay work? And back to the old arguements about conflict of interest (curator/contractor) etc.....am just interested so don't jump down my throat for asking please, have had a bad dayB)
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16th November 2011, 06:48 PM
trowelfodder Wrote:Whats the score the score with ro units who
tell staff to be self employed I know of one payin 65 quid a day is there a minimum for them in ifa price lists
Hi, on away job so don't have it all to hand, but thanks to the new self employed guidelines, yes there is now a base level, and this applies to ROs (and actually to any Corporate member who employs others). On my estimation ?65 a day is below current minima as a wage, let alone a day rate, so it clearly contravenes the Ifa minima. We are trying to get a 'fair day-rate' established and published as a guide to what is the minimum acceptable day rate, but there are issues (see previous thread!).
If you want to make a complaint please do so. You can contact the DF confidentially who can now make a complaint on your behalf, you would be completely out of the loop and anonymous. In a case such as this it should be possible for the IfA investigator to merely ask the employer what their day rates are...
The DF have been asking for those archaeologists who are being paid below minima to contact us so we can put in complaints to stop this. We need real and substantive evidence that it is happenning, but we will treat any information in total confidence, and the IfA complaints procedure now allows us to make proxy complaints on others' behalf. We won't put in a complaint unless we are totally sure it is bona fide and there is proper evidence. But we are happy to put in complaints, especially where pay and conditions are concerned.
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16th November 2011, 06:54 PM
angi Wrote:The company I work for is part of a county council who have demoted the diggers as part of a round of job cuts. Obviously we are appealing against this, but telling them to bung an extra ?800 quid on will be hilarious. It won't work, but it'll be fun to try............ :0
Sorry to hear the news, the DF have been told by more than one head of a council unit that the IfA minima are the only thing the council will listen to when it comes to regrading.
Unfortunately we can't let the worst payers continue to bring down the wages of everyone else. Minima must go up, and 5.2% is a start, the DF are working to make sure it continues year on year. I hope your situation resolves itself, good luck!
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16th November 2011, 06:58 PM
monty Wrote:The problem actually lies with job titles !! .....diggers are doing Supervisor/PO work and getting diggers pay, this has become very common recently....sorry for the confusion in my earlier post 
Then please complain! To your boss, your union and the IfA (via DF if you want to stay anonymous). Whilst there is usually a clause in most contracts that you can be asked to do anything reasonable outside of your job spec, if an employer is routinely getting archaeologist grade staff to do PO level work (this should be fairly easy to demonstrate?) for weeks on end, then there is a case to answer, so complain, otherwise nothing will ever change.
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16th November 2011, 07:01 PM
DF article on changes to IfA complaints procedures:
http://www.archaeologists.net/sites/defa...er5web.pdf see page 6
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16th November 2011, 07:25 PM
(This post was last modified: 16th November 2011, 07:28 PM by kevin wooldridge.)
Dinosaur Wrote:Thought all the 'county' units had been officially 'hived off' (yeah, right), are there still some that are still officially council departments? And if they've been (reputedly) separated how does their wages being linked to council pay work? And back to the old arguements about conflict of interest (curator/contractor) etc.....am just interested so don't jump down my throat for asking please, have had a bad dayB)
According to my reckoning (and including removing one unit from the list just recently!!) there are 13 RAO which still have a direct link to LA grading systems etc.....How does it work? I am guessing they use the same bands and get the same increases (or non-increases) as other LA staff.....Conflict of interest? Never existed. That was a ruse invented by the 'lets privatise everything' right wing in the 80s. There are just as likely to be conflicts of interest amongst long term friends, lovers and ex-colleagues in the 'private' archaeological sector as there are in the public sector. Sorry you had a bad day. Mine was pretty good....penultimate day of the 2011 field season!!
PS 13/60 is about 22%
With peace and consolation hath dismist, And calm of mind all passion spent...
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16th November 2011, 08:08 PM
chiz Wrote:Sorry to hear the news, the DF have been told by more than one head of a council unit that the IfA minima are the only thing the council will listen to when it comes to regrading.
Unfortunately we can't let the worst payers continue to bring down the wages of everyone else. Minima must go up, and 5.2% is a start, the DF are working to make sure it continues year on year. I hope your situation resolves itself, good luck!
It's been crawling on for over a year now, with another meeting with the HR department in a fortnight. Apart from a far more accurate new job description (try to explain to a council HR department that it's a tad more involved than happily digging holes across the landscape), the IfA minima is pretty much our only leverage due to the fact that several of our large contracts require IfA status. Your comment has made me feel a little more optimistic!
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17th November 2011, 08:50 AM
Quote:DF article on changes to IfA complaints procedures:
Thanks for that. Very useful! Very useful. :face-approve:
Quote:try to explain to a council HR department that it's a tad more involved than happily digging holes across the landscape
Again... please feel free to use this document... it has been used and worked before.
www.bajr.org/Documents/BAJRPayConditions_2011-2012.pdf
As it can be shown that 'almost' all archaeological contractors pay either on the rates or above.
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17th November 2011, 07:16 PM
kevin wooldridge Wrote:Sorry you had a bad day. Mine was pretty good....
Today much better, afternoon mostly drinking coffee and watching a guy in a very small mini-digger trying to grate the top metre off some sandstone bedrock, bucket-teeth shortening almost visibly, got to get your entertainment where you can in this job between manically trying to work out what they've just machined through and record it in a scary narrow pipe trench :face-approve:
More bedrock-grating am, might take extra buns, coffee and fags :face-approve::face-approve:
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17th November 2011, 09:40 PM
BAJR Wrote:Thanks for that. Very useful! Very useful. :face-approve:
Again... please feel free to use this document... it has been used and worked before.
www.bajr.org/Documents/BAJRPayConditions_2011-2012.pdf
As it can be shown that 'almost' all archaeological contractors pay either on the rates or above.
Cheers, I have a print out of the grade sheets and several job adverts from other contractors.
