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 __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). 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