A summary of the articles in this issue of the Digger. Click the Headline to view the full story.
The campaigning group Diggers' Forum has issued a stark challenge to those in charge of the industry. !..
You wait for one conference and three come along at once!..
Once more the digging season approaches and thoughts turn to chemical toilets, sunburn and insect bites. Do we give enough thought to the issues, both large and small, that might affect our working lives?.
Applications for archaeology degrees
have dropped by almost 7 per cent... The govt's plans for Stonehenge have
split archaeologists
Scarlett Johansson, the new USD4 million face of cosmetics company L'Oreal, is the latest celebrity who longs to be an archaeologist. ...
Having just completed and passed an MA in Archaeology I am under no illusions that the pay for diggers is abysmal. It is little short of slave labour. A novice brickie of 17 years old can earn an average of UKP25,000 a year (London prices).
How long will it take for all archaeologists to say 'Pay us our worth!' as a united profession? If we all do it at the same time, PPGs 15 and 16 will dictate that we'll have to be paid or no new building work will be done. Simplistic? Maybe, but try it.
I am a normal person with a family who wants to be able to meet the bills
and make a little bit of difference to a country with politicians who are
doing their best to destroy our past and build an unsustainable future.
Construction jobs are covered by a few industry-wide pay agreements. On large industrial construction sites building workers are usually covered by the Construction Industry Joint Council Working Rule Agreement. This sets the minimum hourly rates of pay for labouring operatives and skilled craft workers, and most construction companies follow these rates.
The craft rate is £9 per hour. In addition a building operative employed under the terms of the Working Rule Agreement is entitled to industry sick pay in addition to statutory sick pay.
Currently this is £93.60 per week.
A building operative living away from home is also entitled to a subsistence allowance of £26.47 per night. Daily travel allowance or fare allowance are paid from 15km, respectively £0.86 or £3.20, rising to £6.58 and £11.50 respectively for 75km.
It would be a modest ambition for Trades Unions, IFA and working archaeologists
to aspire to match the Construction Industry Joint Council Working Rule Agreement
craft rate £18,720 a year (40-hour week) as a minimum for experienced
archaeologists, and to secure a comparable range of sick- pay, subsistence
and travel allowances.
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The Digger
PO Box 23570
London
E13 9YP
e-mail: thedigger@email.com