Hello. How do I unsubscribe from this list? I keep trying and invariably get
more messages! Arrrghhhh!


At 10:12 AM 19/8/96 -0400, MARY KATHERINE MANNIX wrote:
>Like Andy I can't stand it anymore either.  It seems to me that whenever
>the wage discussion rears it ugly head, and I do think that in certain
>contexts it is a legitimate point of discussion, we tend
>to go for each other's throats.  Yes, generally, the wages are bad
>and this is a bad thing.  However, there are many, many reasons for this
>and we should not be so quick to judge either the job or the people who
>work the job.  There are GREAT jobs out there that make didly. They
>are fulfilling, they may fit perfectly into someone's present life
>situation, they are great experience, etc. I know, I have had some jobs
>like this.  I have one now and I can't begin to tell you how much that
>job means to me.  I worked clerical for a number of years so that I could
>afford to keep that job and while that is not something that I would
>encourage people to do (although it expanded my horizons in many ways) and
>it is not something that everyone would want to do, or could do, it was
>right for me and for my life.  And there are also horrible jobs out there
>which make very tidy sums.  I have friends who have these jobs
>and I have friends who have left these jobs.  And there are great jobs
>that make great money.  There are great internships which pay nothing and great
>interships that pay. I have had both.  Some people are grossly overpaid
>for what they do (whether they make $45,000 or $10,000) and some people are
>grossly underpaid (whether they make $45,000 or $10,000) for what they do,
>well, find a field where this is not so. And while I truly believe in
>doing everything we can for solidarity, and I don't believe in
>the exploitation of professionals and professionals working for nothing,
>unless it is truly volunteer work and the institution is aware that they are
>getting pro bono work, not every institution is going to be
>able to pay a "living wage".  That is the nature of some institutions.
>It is especially common in the local history field.
>Some are never going to be full-time or completely "professional"
>organizations.  Some are never going to have the money. It could be that
>often the institutions who are posting jobs to the list, the ones
>with the very low salaries which send some of us into a flame tizy, truly
>can not afford any more and it may be a choice of either a poorly
>paid professional in the position or no professional in the position or
>no position.  I know which I think is better.  There are, of course,
>also institutions which can pay more and don't.  While I think
>that we should do whatever we can as a profession to increase wages
>and I truly can be as militant about this as just about anyone, and I do
>have socialist tendencies, I think it would be good, and make for a
>kinder gentler list, something I think we are in need of this summer, if we
>could all remember that we all make different choices in life for
>different reasons and while the rest of the world may
>look down upon some of our work because the pay is bad, we, as a
>group, should not and that is what we have been doing.  I could go on, but
>I'll duck now while people threw things at me. Mary Mannix
>
>                        ************
>
>                        Mary K. Mannix
>Library Director                        Reference Librarian
>Howard County Historical Society        Lilienfeld Library
>PO Box 109                              School of Hygiene and Public Health,
>8324 Court Avenue                       Johns Hopkins University
>Ellicott City, MD                       Baltimore, MD
>                        410-955-3028
>                410-750-0370 (Tues. pm & Saturday)
>                        410-955-0200 (fax)
>                [log in to unmask]
>                        Co-Moderator, H-Local
>
>