But if our professional association were to create artificial shortages by
"licensing" people or making us get "certified" we might cut out some of
those who will work for any price and get our own salaries up some.  Why
don't museuams pay as well as other industries.  We are, to a certain
degree, part of the entertainment industry.  Can't we hype what we do to
make it seem as important as a football or basketball game and thus worth
$50.00 a ticket to get in.

Before anybody climbs on me for being absurd, disregard the latter point as
just that.  But there is a better place between what we get and what they
get that we might reach by not resigning ourselves to mediocrity.  Look
what school teachers have done in some parts of the country.  They are
finally in a better place and, thanks to certain things happening around
the country and the world, they are going to be in a much better place in
the not too distant future.  We kind of fall into that group.  We just
haven't organized yet.


------
Robert Handy
Brazoria County Historical Museum
museum_bob
[log in to unmask]

----------
From:   Susan Wageman[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Thursday, April 16, 1998 1:10 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: JOB OPPORTUNITY: Museum Director, Golden State Museum

At 09:37 AM 4/16/98 -0500, you wrote:
>... there is a labor shortage in the
>U.S.  Why not take advantage of it and strengthen our collective positions
>by standing up.

There may be a labor shortage in some professions, but not in the museum
field. The reality is that museums (and other nonprofits) just don't pay as
well as for-profit ventures that require similar experience and/or
education. We are in a free market, here in the U.S. and in many of the
other countries represented on this list. As long as museums can find good,
qualified people who are willing to work for the pay offered, not much is
going to change.

Susan B.F. Wageman
Grants and Research Manager                    (408) 279-7178
The Tech Museum of Innovation                  (408) 918-0253 fax
[log in to unmask]                          http://www.thetech.org