It seems to me that the AAM is a member organization, and it should work
toward what is in the best interests of its members- including salary
improvements in the museum field- which is what we all want, right?  It is
one thing to occassionally complete a salary survey here and there, and
quite another to take active steps in applying pressure on museums to do
what is right by their employees salary-wise.  Is this already being done?
 I don't know.  This has probably been floated before, but setting up
national salary levels and standards for museum professionals seems like a
good place to begin.

No one can force a museum to pay more- especially since there are plenty of
museums on shoe-string budgets, but I think that if a museum can afford to
pay more in salaries, it should do so.  National salary standards based on
experience, educational background, and skills would directly benefit
applicants- who could use the standards as leverage in negotiating a salary
based on what they are worth.

----------
From:   The Brooklyn Museum, Public Information
Dept[SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
Sent:   Tuesday, July 22, 1997 12:33 PM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: salaries

Regarding salaries, there seems to be a basic point that no one is
mentioning:  if museums are not generating significant amounts of
revenue (and if they are competing for donated funds within a given area,
like New York), how are they supposed to pay their employees more?

And the AAM is a professional organization, not a union.  I don't
understand what it could do.