I need to know (off the list better) how people with academic/research
contracts "deal" with the situation of being paid less under an academic
library contract in the same institution/sector. As this, as far as I know,
is NOT tackled (the library environment amply benefiting from such
symbiosis) I wonder how people deal with being told "well, this is a
library contract therefore you are worth less". Part-timers everywhere are
likely to be women, this is a topic which may affect other people on the
list (and those who are not, at least make you aware of this). The binary
split between research versus teaching roles means that academic-related
posts slide even more into clerical, going unchecked and uncontested while
we are busy looking up missionary statements instead of fighting for
parity. This means, for example, that if you are involved with VLEs under a
LIBRARY contract you are worth less than if you are doing the same job
under a proper academic/research department or school, being paid less for
teaching, etc.
What I am saying is of course not new, and of course there is always
unemployment to choose from - but perhaps there are people on the list who
are still trying to gain research recognition while complementing this
with "library" work. How do you argue "my job in this half of the week is
of equal status" (or do you just go along with personnel admitting that it
isn't ?). It becomes more and more clear to me that the chartership might
be all the documentary evidence an employer needs to pay us less, so it
might be worth keeping quiet about it if you want to get on professionally
(at least in universities).
Emilce Rees
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