Diggers’ Forum response to IfA ‘Statement on archaeological salaries’

This is a brief initial response from the Diggers' Forum to the IfA Statement onarchaeological salaries (10/11/2009). The issues raised clearly warrant further in-depthdiscussion. Diggers' Forum looks forward to working with the IfA Executive Committee tolook at ways of implementing improved measures to tackle the poor state of pay andconditions within the profession.Discussion of such important and emotive issues should be carried out in a transparentmanner. We would suggest that organisations or individuals proposing drastic change toIfA policy should state their case publicly on a platform where the wider membership cangain a clearer understanding of the arguments and have the opportunity to respondaccordingly. We would like to see the IfA facilitate an open discussion by calling anExtraordinary General Meeting and/or opening a public forum on the IfA website,specifically devoted to discussion of the salary minima issue within a set timescale.IfA Council posed itself four questions and drew various conclusions, which aresummarised within the statement. Three DF members were present at the Councilmeeting, but their views were not necessarily the same as those reached by the Councilas a whole. The following section presents a Diggers' Forum response to the four questions:1) Should IfA be involved in matters relating to the remuneration of archaeologists?We believe it is crucial the IfA takes a lead role in matters relating to remuneration of archaeologists. Pay levels are appalling, particularly within the Field sector. The IfA

Benchmarking Salaries Report

(2008) identified an increase of 13-53% required to bringarchaeological pay in line with comparable professions. Diggers' Forum stronglysupports unionisation within commercial archaeology, but at present unionrepresentation is limited and fragmentary. We acknowledge that tackling the pay issuewithin the competitive-tendering system is a complex, difficult and challenging prospectfor commercial units. However, we see little or no evidence of the necessarycommitment and motivation needed to achieve the percentage increases outlined in the

Salaries Report

. We believe that standards of archaeological practice are directly linkedto satisfactory pay levels, with particular regard to staff-retention and the advantages of maintaining an experienced and highly-skilled workforce. In our view the IfA is currentlybest-placed to provide a framework in which pay, conditions and standards of archaeological practice can be worked on, managed and improved. We would urge allarchaeological contractors, whether within the IfA as ROs or individual members, or operating outside the organisation, to work with the IfA towards an improved paystructure.2) Are the salary minima the best way of effecting improvement?We believe the best way of effecting improvement is maintenance of salary minima withbuilt-in annual above-inflation pay increases that work towards the percentage payincreases outlined in the

Salaries Report

. The increases should be phased in within settimetables and ultimately should aim towards the increase at the top end of the scale,rather than just focussing on 13% at the lower end.