When you're doing the comparables, please do not
forget to factor in your geographic locale and the
cost of living therefor. Uptown Manhattan is going to
cost a lot more than someplace in the outskirts of
Montana (sorry, no offense intended).
With that said, unless and until you're willing to
unionize--and never in the time I've been on this list
have I ever heard anyone who bitched about . . . er,
discussed this. . . pick up the rally cry and form a
union. Never. I've seen this topic go buy with
tremendous regularity, but no one has said, "Here, let
me be the leader. I will be the leader, group, and
form a union. We will create specific job titles. We
will have specific salary requirements to go with the
titles. We will organize and get many people to form
this union. We will not work until we get paid what
we consider to be a just a living wage."
WHY? Well, I think it's a couple of reasons. I don't
think you see the kind of spunk our forefathers had to
unionize in today's workers. I don't think you see
enough people willing to stand up for what they
believe to be right. They'll sit down and bitch,
complain to one another in a discussion forum, or in
private, but there aren't enough people who are
willing to put the job on the line for what they
believe to be the right thing.
And except for the fact that the rebel in me rues the
fact that there aren't enough people who will stand up
for their convictions (having personal trouble with
the silent majority and other world events, so perhaps
this is spillover), I'm afraid that one monkey doesn't
stop the show and none here, though absolutely
irrestible, are absolutely irreplaceable.
For every one that walks out of a job, how long does
it take, in most cases, to find some other monkey
willing to take it, who will work for the money you
believe to be paltry? Therein lies the problem.
Consider, if you will, the grants profession. The
grants profession has pretty much self-governed with
its associations. They have pretty much agreed that
one will not work on a commission basis, and the
profession pretty much polices itself. There are
exceptions, but fewer and fewer since more
organizations are requiring membership in these
self-policing organizations as a form of accreditation
and/or these criteria are taught in classrooms that
enhance grant seeking skills.
Until you unionize, until somebody has the guts to say
I'll shovel bandini on Bandini Mountain if I have to
before I'll work for less, all this will ever wind up
being in this forum is a form of methane not unlike
what is produced on Bandini Mountain.
Too many candles ago, a wise old supervisor taught me
that life isn't always fair. It just is. The wage in
a museums world is never fair when you consider what
you've been charged with protecting and preserving.
But that's the fact. You can argue that you need to
have a living wage, but until you convince the public
and the employers, you're just blowing methane in the
wind.
This same argument comes up at LEAST four times a
year. At least that often. And we can all agree that
you should be paid more. So there, it's done. We
agree.
But will you be? Not unless YOU do something about
it. Is there anybody here that feels strongly enough
about this to do something? I think not. I don't
think there are any Selma marchers or back of the
bussers, or no uvas, or not work at all til working
conditions are improved kinds of people here. At
least I haven't seen any step up.
I guess you could call this a challenge. If you want
it, if you believe it, if you think you've earned it,
then do what it takes to work for it and make it
better not just for yourself, but for your peers and
future museum folks as well.
If not, get back to your underpaid jobs and be glad
you have one in a world where countless people go to
bed at night and wished they could have yours, and in
this post-9/11 economy where the unemployment market
is the highest its been in years, or any job.
Ok, so this is so not nice, and it seems so cynical,
and it's not intended to be.
It's intended to spur you into doing what you believe
or change your reality and accept your lot in life.
But you won't. Reality isn't nice. At this point,
until somebody does something differently, it's what
reality looks like.
Santa can't fix this for you. You have to.
--- Wesley Creel <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
> Good Afternoon Melissa,
> Please remember...........when collecting data about
> pay scales:
> 1.) Comparables/don't compare apples with kumquats.
> Please remember to
> collect information about pay scales from
> institutions that are comparable
> to your institution. From personal experience, I
> can attest, that a museum
> with an operational budget over $6.5 million has
> paid a person (with the
> same job title at another institution) more than
> twice (sometimes three
> times) as much as a museum with a $1.1 million
> operational budget......and,
=====
Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]
Looking for a Job? Try Got Links?, Your One-Stop Portal
http://victorian.fortunecity.com/stanmer/414
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