Digger 1 - 39 (1998

The

Institute

of

Field

Archaeologists

-

Why

Join?

When I first started digging I had absolutely no idea what the IFAwas or what it did. From what I could gather fiom conversations withmy more experienced peers, they were some mythical entity whichwielded a kind of mysterious power, and acted in some way like theMasons, where no

-

one

really

knew how to get in or if they did theyweren't letting on.. .and

whe

was I to be asking anyway?To be fair I was young and

nalve,

but even now I am not entirely sureof the purpose they serve, and if you ask yourselves the samequestion you may be struggling too.

I

have a lot of friends who have joined the Institute, and who will sing the praises of theestablishment. They point out that by joining they are provingthemselves to be of an acceptable standard in order to undertakecertain work, and anyway the extra letters after

your

name look good,don't they?My personal problem with this is that I have worked for quite

a

longtime as a digger, I have a long and impressive enough

CV,

I havegained a lot of skills, and I don't have a lot of problem getting work.So why should I spend £50 a year (plus the £10 non

-

returnable

"

application

"

fee) for little reward? The argument that by joining youare proving yourself to be a far better digger than your non

-

membercompatriot seemsridiculous. I know members who cannot dig fortoffee, besides which most, if not all, units will go on quantity of experience rather than membership of the IFA as a sellingpoint

...

especially these days where acceptable

dim

are

baoming

a rarer species. Most units will now employ diggers on the back of only a few weeks experience if they are desperate enough, which initself is not necessarily a bad thing as it means more people get the

paid

digging experience they deserve, but this just emphasises mypoint. Why join?Exponents of the IFA will point out that actually the conditions wenow

fmd

ourselves working under are entirely down to the IFAissuing guidelines which units can now follow in order to come underthe umbrella title of 'professionals' (to quote their literature, theiraims are 'to provide an active professional organisation', and 'todevelop professional guidelines

7

for field archaeology and someother nice fluffy stuff). As an example, English Heritage and the IFAare at present doing a survey of pay and benefits (e.g.accommodation) in order to attempt to standardise job titles and payscales as guidelines for units to work by. This is not a bad thing (howcan it be?), because the one thing this job needs is some form of professionalism to kick it into the nineties. But the

IFA's

guidelinesare not mandatory

-

no IFA police will come down

heavy

on a unitwho chooses to bend a few rules and cut a few corners. We all knowonly too well what this means

...

low wages, short contracts and nocomeback

-

no change. The

IFA

have a big thing about any members(note you have to be a member, this doesn't work on non

-

members)bringing the profession into disrepute because when you become amember you have to be a 'proper person' and joining has to 'mark anew threshold in an individual's professional development' (I'm notmaking this up

...

it

is

the Masons!). As far as I am aware only oneperson in its entire history has been brought up

in

fiont

of the counciland actually reprimanded. To me, the Institute has now effectivelybeen rendered powerless, if it ever had any power, by the outbreak of 'unsolicited' units on the back of competitive tendering

which.it

canno longer reign in. All it now seems to exist as is a talking shopbetween increasingly older members who are in comfortablepositions within the profession and who can afford to discuss thehigher problems of archaeology in a relaxed and convivial mannerwithout ever having to change very much for those that matter on theground (if you pardon the pun).So after all this opening build up it may surprise you to know that I

am

going to join the IFA, and that I think you should too. Myreasoning is this. The Institute may be outmoded, out of touch and atpresent may serve very little purpose, but at present it is the

o

thing we have which allows us any form of clout as regards theprofession we are in. Whatever we may think of them now, theystarted up for the same reasons that we are presently fighting for.Apparently, in the past, other opposing groups did start up but theynever got anywhere (or things would be better and we would haveheard of them), so why not use what actually exists and is

firmly

established for our own ends?As it

stahds

at the moment, nothing will change through the IFAbecause no diggers are joining, and if they do, no one is standing upto the say

"e

rm... I

don't

like this

...

change

it,

please

"

. They haveconferences! We could

make

lots of noise and really upset the peoplewho actually give us the crap wages, long hours and woefully shortcontracts. By getting large numbers to join to pull weight inelections, and using the newsletter as a rallying point, we can use ournumbers to get someone on to council and to push through motionswhich favour diggers' work conditions. Sub

-

groups exist in the IFAas regards (for example)

finds/environmental

staff, so at the veryleast we could push for a sub

-

group to be formed for us. So that'swhy I'm joining. I want to make a difference in some way and I think by doing this I will

...

what do I have to lose? (Apart fiom

£50

ayear.. .of course). It is the only way.

Or is it? What do you think? Are you a member and disagree with

this