The 200 members of the Syndicat national des archéologues du Québec adopted, on June 18, the agreements in principle reached with three firms, in order to obtain their very first collective agreements.
“It proves that it is possible, in 2022, to change your working conditions,” rejoices Alexandra LaPerrière, vice-president of information for the National Syndicate of Archaeologists of Quebec. After “two years of struggle”, the union – founded in March 2020 – reached an agreement with the firms Patrimonia, Artefact Urbain and Archéo-Mamu, she said. These new collective agreements will notably allow an archaeologist who is at the maximum level to be entitled to a 35% increase in his salary, as of 2023.
But there is still work to be done to “standardize working conditions and salaries in archaeology,” says Ms. LaPerrière. Ultimately, the objective is to reach an agreement in principle with “the other more recalcitrant employers”, maintains the vice-president of the union.
This “union struggle” is necessary, since health and safety on archaeological sites have been lacking for a very long time, underlines Alexandra LaPerrière. “Sometimes we don’t even have a toilet,” she says.
Sometimes archaeologists have to work with hydrocarbon-contaminated soils. “It smells very strong and it gives you a headache,” says Ms. LaPerrière. You can almost pass out. The vice-president of the union therefore specifies that protective equipment for the respiratory tract, tracksuits, sturdy gloves and a hand washing system are necessary. However, some employers were already providing the right equipment, she says.
By signing collective agreements that guarantee better working conditions, the goal is to “keep our people and our expertise,” says Ms. LaPerrière. The latter, who has been practicing since 2008, is “one of the oldest” in the industry, she points out.
In Quebec, various university courses lead to professional archaeology, explains Alexandra LaPerrière. Some workers hold a bachelor’s degree in archaeology, anthropology or history, she lists. Other indigenous colleagues have “gone to forest university” because of their knowledge of ancestral lands, she adds. “We have not defined what an archaeologist is in our conventions [collectives] for the sake of inclusion,” explains Ms. LaPerrière.