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WORK STOPPAGES BY archaeologists at building sites across the country are to continue as the Unite trade union pushes for an improvement in pay for these workers.
The union has accused the Irish Archaeological Consultancy (IAC) of paying “poverty wages” to workers and a number of strike days have taken place in Dublin and in Cork since the dispute began.
On Thursday archaeologists at a site in Portmarnock staged the latest day of industrial action, engaging in a 24-hour stoppage.
Unite has called on the IAC to attend the Workplace Relations Commission and negotiate collectively with its employees on pay.
The IAC, which employs a number of core staff archaeologists as well as field archaeologists for specific projects, has said it increased wages by over 65% in the last four years.
With respect to pay, IAC has consistently made efforts to improve our staff’s pay and conditions in response to the recovery in demand for archaeological services and line with what the company can afford.
It also said it deals directly with staff on contractual matters.
The union has disputed the claim of a 65% increase in wages, as its members’ contracts currently stipulate an hourly wage of €12.50.
“The plan is to keep doing what we’re doing until such time as they’re willing to engage,” Jean O’Dowd, Unite Archaeology Branch chair told TheJournal.ie. She said this would include further work stoppages at IAC sites.
“I don’t think people realise – when you tell people you’re an archaeologist they say “oh wow, great job”. People just presume, they don’t know that it’s really badly paid, you’re out there in this weather.
The Portmarnock crowd are finishing today and they only found that out last week, so they had a week’s notice to find a new job. That’s constant and that’s not taken into consideration in pay.
“It’s an extremely hard job, always short-term contracts in horrendous conditions. It’s a very physical job, back and knee injuries are common and there are no benefits like medical or pensions,” she said.
Although she said work had picked up for archaeologists now that building has started up again in Ireland, she said there is a lot of uncertainty in the job.
“The crews in Portmarnock, the five of them finish at 4pm today and they have no job after that even though they’ve been looking for a week. So it’s not a matter of finishing in one site on Friday and starting in another on Monday, even though things are busy again now.”
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They chose that career.
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: Yeah, how dare they try to improve the terms of their employment.
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: Unfortunatly it’s opinions like that which has this planet in such a dirty, polluted mess.
One of out unique abilities as humans is our ability to recognise our history. Without it we would be considerably poorer off.
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: What an ignorant comment. These people choose a life of academia alright, but also to learn about and preserve the history of this nation. Their efforts benefit all Irish people and also tourism and they should be rewarded sufficiently for it. If some jumped up little obnoxious madam decides she will become a ‘influencer’, she will attract way, way more attention than people who go into science, medicine, academia etc…. This is what is wrong with the youth of today
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: failure to recognise and understand our past sets us up to fail in the future
@Andrew Behan: do we know that Seanie is a young fella?….come on Seanie give us the break down!
@⚡ Seánie ⚡: wow. What an ignorant person you must be
@Clifford Brennan: Would you suggest to a battered wife that she chose that husband.?
There’s no future in archaeology
@Kevin O’Donnell: very good
@Kevin O’Donnell: bravo
Are they looking for a dig out
@bmul: you are scraping the bottom of the barrel with that one.
@bmul: very poor attempt.
@Bill Brown: I gave you a “ thumbs up “ before I posted my response so I am doing my best.
Good on them. Having fair pay and conditions isn’t a luxury, it’s a basic right and something they many of us must fight for and preserve.
@Dónal Ó hÍobhair: If it can’t provide the income they want then why did they choose this career?
@John Horan: most irish companies went bust in the crash . Two uk companies have come in and undercut everyone paying minimum wage swathes of people left archeology . Tide is turning as they are having to pay more and more as people refuse to work for them.
I thought they were all volunteers.
They’re jus digging a bigger hole for themselves.
So many negative derisory comments towards people who are interested in our origins and history. I’d support their right to be reasonably paid for a difficult and uncertain job that contributes so much knowledge of who we are.
They are entitled to there opinion but they have one big problem.
If bus drivers go on strike all commuters are affected, if block layers go out the company/developer soon feels it in the pocket but if archaeologists go out the developer and most of his staff will likely say “happy days” and the ordinary Joe soap will say….. “Wha?”
@Patrick Nolan: probably because the ordinary Joe Soap is as thick as two planks.
@Brian Ó Dálaigh:
Don’t ever run for any elected office
At least they have a Genuine Union backing and representing their grievousness
@Johnny Mason: so what ?? as opposed to the hundreds of thousands of their peers who finished college and are in well paid jobs that don’t have a union ?? Don’t see your point at all there mate … ask the union to please explain how they have been happy to take subs and allow qualified members be happy to work for what looks like zero hour contracts at 12.5O per hour but are only now coming out with this “at lease they have a union “ nonsense
i want to be an archaeologist when i grow up said no teenager ever, maybe its just something you fall into…
Indiana Jones seemed to get paid pretty well though.
They should go on strike. (Then maybe we would get some roads built)
They pau there staff less than a shop assistant. ….but on the other side are well able to charge …
Two good friends of mine bother English came here in 2002″ when the boom was on. They both have 1-1″s in archeology but went in to banking. No relevant jobs with pay at the time. Both doing very well as bank VP’s
@Plumbers Dublin: so they went from digging up to getting dig-outs then.
Where there’s muck there’s money
If their union was any good it would never have come to this.
@Ian James Burgess: I used to work for IAC..and well they didn’t allow us to join a union..so I’m assuming the association with a union is fairly recent and because of the issue with the low pay
@Katie Murphy: you could always join a union – it’s in the constitution – the employer just doesn’t have to talk (recognise) to that union.
It’s going to be a long long time before they get what they want.
Someone’s going to have to dig deep to find them a few more coins.
Unite are nothing but gangsters
have your say