There's nowt like talk of money to get everyone going is there?
Just to reply to some of the comments made. I agree with Bruce Jackson and Mark
Weaver that there are already difficulties in filling some posts and that
change will come from the market. Richard Schofield and others seem to regard
the salaries issue in a similar light to those of nurses - because the job is
vocational and rewarding we don't need a reasonable amount of money for doing
it. In local government we're just ministering family history angels. Only
kidding - no e-mails please! Richard may be right in saying that starting
salaries would not be a big problem if the top of the scales were higher but
this doesn't happen in local government. Someone starting one of the Norfilk
jobs on scale 4 would take some 8 years to reach the top of scale 6 and this
would not be vastly higher than the Society's stated acceptable minimum. Many
archives assistants are paid on scale 3 and Warwickshire recently
advertised such a post on scale 4 - where is the incentive to do the
qualification if you can earn the same money as an assistant? People expressed
concern that if archivists demand higher salaries then unqualified people will
be taken on instead. Turning that around, we'll have a hard time explaining
why people need archivists if we're prepared to work for the same money.
Archivists don't live in isolation - we like to buy houses, have the odd glass
of wine, perhaps marry or even have children, all of which require money. Low
paid jobs may make it impossible for people who want to enter the profession to
do so. Bruce stresses the need to attract suitable people into jobs and the
current numbers applying to archive courses demonstrate the popularity of
archives as a career. Do we want them to be leaving after a few years because
they are underpaid and undervalued? Joanne Revill seems rather disillusioned
already!
I don't think we're asking for the moon here, only a living wage commensurate
with our qualifications and experience, however, we have to believe that we're
worth it!
Jenny Moran
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