It has been said before but these are female professions and therefore
undervalued.
Also they do attract caring/ service orientated people who probably are less
concerned about salary levels.
But I don't see this as a reason not to fight for better salary levels. A scan
through the LA Vacancies supplement usually has me choking with indignation at
many of the salaries offered (particularly as they usually want a superhuman to
do them). A recent advert offered £10,000 to a graduate to work in London.
Personally I think this is disgusting. We pay our placement students more than
that.
Sarah George
Corus plc
[log in to unmask] on 26/05/2000 09:40:17
Please respond to [log in to unmask]
To: [log in to unmask]
cc: (bcc: Sarah George/BSPT/GB)
Subject: Re: " Librarian's salaries "
Would it be true to say that the type of people who have traditionally
followed the professions that Stuart mentions as being lower paid -
librarians, teachers, social workers and nurses - are
those that do not generally promote themselves, argue for pay rises,
convince others of their worth, etc.?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sandra Morris, Electronic Information Development Officer
Hugh Owen Library, Information Services,
University of Wales, Aberystwyth,
Penglais Campus, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion, SY23 3DZ
Email: [log in to unmask]
Extension: 1892 Phone: (01970) 621892 FAX: (01970) 622404
-----------------------------------------------------------------
In message <[log in to unmask]>,
Stuart Halliday <[log in to unmask]> writes:
> Hi folks
>
> Hazel's email seems to have raised a number of issues, one of which is
> our lowly level of professional remuneration.
>
> What we are paid certainly does not accurately reflect the vital
> function which we fulfill. In terms of the professions employed by
> public service, why do librarians, social workers and teachers get paid
> less than doctors, solicitors and engineers. On one level at least all
> are equal. All are graduate occupations, all require intelligent,
> articulate, erudite professionals in their ranks The question, however,
> is twofold. Why has the situation of differential levels of pay
> developed, and how is it to be remedied?
>
> Re the first question, one answer might be that doctors and (to a lesser
> extent) engineers are paid more because the implications of error in
> their profession could detrimentally affect human life. This answer does
> not really go far enough, however. The real reason is, I feel, more
> straightforward. Taking the case of engineers and solicitors, the bulk
> of their professional members work in the private sector, in which more
> competitive salaries can be paid. Thus the private sector sets the
> yardstick which the public sector must follow in order to recruit
> competent staff. In the case of teachers, social workers and librarians,
> the reverse is the case. The preponderance of the profession work in the
> public sector which is free to set a much lower wage structure (and
> which, unfortunately) which the private sector can subsequently adopt as
> its yardstick.
>
> That is primarily why we lose out. It is therefore folly to blame our
> professional body for our low wages. It is not the Library Association's
> fault. It is simply the fault of market forces and, if you like, of the
> financial system by which we are governed.
>
> How are we to change things? There seems no way forward short of
> ditching the whole capitalist/monetarist system, the very system which
> is responsible for the truly obscene variations in remuneration - a
> system all three of our major political parties slavishly support. Think
> of the pittance paid to members of the nursing profession against the
> millions earned by (or rather, paid to) to footballs and their talents
> wives, for instance. Or consider the obscene wealth enjoyed by the
> Gatesian empire, which at its height could have bought off the entire
> Third World debt and still had enough left over to treat every adult
> inhabitant of South America to a fish supper and a crate of Newcastle
> Brown Ale. Surely the answer to the our simple question (and to the much
> greater one) lies in finding a viable, acceptable and democratic
> alternative to capitalism?
>
>
------- End of Forwarded Message
|