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Countryside Jobs Service |
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CJS Discussion Board - Wages & Responsibilities |
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You are here> Info > Main Board> Wages & Responsibilities |
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Wages, responsibilities and variations. We feel these are all threads along similar lines and have grouped them all together here.
We feel this is a cross over topic between the two areas mentioned and should be treated as new thread, CJS. Comment on the "slave wages" / "experience required" discussions: I work for a large local authority and have just seen an advertisement in their "current vacancies" for a Community Liaison Officer for Local Nature Reserves. The job involves having SOLE RESPONSIBILITY for developing strategies and involving the community. It pays at Local Authority scale 5, or around 16 to 18k. Requirements include a degree, and at least two years experience. Compared with other Council jobs at a similar grade, this is an awesome level of responsibility; a Scale 5 officer in, say, Housing, would have only a fraction of the responsibility and would probably only be expected to have a couple of o levels. Conversely, someone with this level of responsibility in other areas of work would probably be graded at SO (Senior Officer) 1 or 2, which translates to 20 to 25k. And as icing on the cake, the post is temporary. Conservation work and the not unrelated areas of Arts and Heritage (of which I also have extensive experience) all suffer from the same ills observed by other correspondents: namely, very high demands and expectations from prospective employers, coupled with a very low value placed on the people who do the actual work. The main reason for this seems to be that they can always get someone desperate and over-qualified for a menial job in the "right" field, and, failing that, can even get willing workers to do it for nowt. And there's no need to look after them or retain them once they're in post, because there's plenty more where they came from. I have more or less given up on the idea of having a "proper" paid job doing the work I love, and have settled for humdrum paper-shoving which pays more than I could have earned in the conservation/heritage industry, and at least allows me to do a little freelance heritage education work as a sideline. I don't know what the answer is to make things better - I do know that this situation is not considered acceptable in other parts of Europe. Perhaps we could learn from other countries. Anyone got any ideas from abroad? Details supplied (Ref: WR) Replies:►And in agreement: Greetings fellow slaves, serfs and peasant workers, I too work for a local authority in the North West, and as senior ranger I get to manage 11 countryside sites, 4 staff, volunteers, etc, etc, etc. I have ten years experience, a degree and a raft of other essential bits of paper, we are under resourced, under funded, under paid and generally under impressed at the way we are treated. Today I have just been informed by a close council insider that I know that temporary leisure centre staff get paid more than me! Loyalty, job satisfaction and all the rest of the tripe that we try and kid ourselves. I am moving closer to my dream of getting out of this place, you bet there's going to be a braindrain UK plc is heading for the toilet. Details supplied (ref: WR-R1)
►GK of Cambridgeshire says: This sounds like a really familiar situation for our ranger team, at least until around 6 months ago. Firstly we decided we had had enough of being put upon and so contacted our Union who made an official complaint; result: paid overtime, a proper (and paid) out of hours call out system rather than relying on our goodwill. Then, a job evaluation across the entire Council! The result in my salary rising from £17000 to over £20000 overnight, and being graded at the same level as trees and landscapes officers and ecologists. The lesson, sometimes it pays to throw teddy out of the pram. The only problem? No-one else will pay me the rate I am on now, which makes looking for a new job a bit difficult. (ref: WR-R2)
►AN in the south west on 21/10 says: I've made it ! I've broken out, I've joined the real World. Having spent the last 5 years as a slave I've finally joined the ranks of my masters and now work in the telecoms business. I work as long or short a week as I choose. I have nobody under me, I have no responsibilities, I have nothing to organise, I don't have to research and constantly read up on latest developments and issues and I can now afford to feed myself and my family! (on OVER twice the earnings I ever received as a ranger) The biggest downside is that I work with a bunch of meatheads who wouldn't know what to do with a thought if they ever had one. Yes folks - I've discovered the truth. Not only are those employed in the environmental sector getting cr***ed on financially - they are far brighter than any of those getting the big bucks. BUT I'M SURE YOU ALL KNOW THIS. WHEN ARE YOU ALL GOING TO GET TOGETHER - MAYBE THROUGH THESE FORUMS - AND PUBLICLY DEMONSTRATE? COME ON - GET DOWN TO DOWNING STREET. LET'S GIVE BLAIR ANOTHER HEART ATTACK ;) (PS I'm indirectly employed by the home office so my wages, and my companies multimillion pound contract, still come from the tax payer. Shhh.). (Ref: WR-R3)
►TM in Somerset says: I work for a local authority in the south west in Rights of Way. For the same authority I could get paid more as a toilet cleaner or a street sweeper. (Ref: WR-R4) I work for a conservation charity as an upland footpath supervisor in Cumbria on a grade 9 salary, however the same job title in Wales gets a grade 8 salary, is this disparity legal? Details Supplied (Ref: RWV) I want to add a piece / comment -
The views contained on this page are not necessary those held by CJS. |
