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.