Tag: United Campus Workers

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U of M to Raise Minimum Wage to $13 an Hour, Campus Workers Say It’s Not Enough

CREDIT: Maya Smith

Maya Smith

Students demand living wage for all campus workers at a fall protest.

University of Memphis president M. David Rudd announced Monday that the university has a plan to increase the minimum wage for campus employees to $13.

In an email sent to the university’s staff and faculty, Rudd laid out a two-part plan to increase the minimum wage of all regular hourly employees to $13 an hour by July.

“Since I started my tenure as present, our leadership team has made a firm commitment to raise the wages of our lowest-paid employees,” Rudd said in the email. “As I have mentioned on many occasions, we are doing so in a financially responsible and sustainable manner. We have an equally firm commitment to also keep the cost of education low for our students.”

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In 2018, the university increased minimum wage from $10.10 to $10.60 an hour, and then in 2019, those wages were increased again to $11.11.

Now, the plan is to increase the minimum wage to $12 in April and then to $13 by July 2020.

Rudd first promised a plan to raise the minimum wage of campus employees in July after Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris vetoed a Shelby County Commission decision to allocate $1 million for the U of M’s Michael Rose Natatorium because of the school’s failure to pay living wages to some employees.

The commission voted to override the veto, but the public debate prompted Rudd to publicly declare his commitment to a definitive plan to raise the campus minimum wage to $15 over the next two years.

Monday’s announcement is the first step the campus has seen toward that plan.

The Tennessee State Employees Association (TSEA) applauded Rudd’s Monday announcement: “TSEA appreciates President Rudd for keeping his commitment to increasing wages of University of Memphis’ Higher Education state employees.”

But members of the United Campus Workers (UCW) were surprised by Rudd’s announcement, said Jayanni Webster, West Tennessee organizer for UCW.

Webster said she spent the morning discussing Rudd’s plan with UCW members who have been pushing for $15 an hour since 2014.

These workers maintain that $13 isn’t sufficient and that their goal remains $15 an hour, she said. “We are not done with this issue, not one bit,” said Doris Brooks-Conley, a U of M custodial worker of 19 years said.

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Another campus custodian, Sharon Gale, who has worked at the U of M for five years, said she and co-workers have been asking for better pay “for a long time. It’s been really hard for me trying to keep up with bills and expenses. At the end of the day, we need the $15. Hopefully Dr. Rudd keeps his promise and we see it by the end of the year.”

UCW members are also concerned about whether or not these raises will affect employees receiving merit or cost-of-living raises this year.

Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer, the lone commissioner who voted to uphold Harris’ veto this summer, said the wage increase announced Monday is the “first step toward $15, which we hope to see not too far from this increase.” Sawyer adds that she is proud to have stood with Mayor Harris on this issue and that she will “continue to advocate until poverty wages are eliminated.”


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Groups Call for a Living Wage for All U of M Workers

CREDIT: Maya Smith

Maya Smith

Students demand living wage for all campus workers

Students protested at the University of Memphis Friday, asking for a living wage for all campus workers and an overall more equitable campus.

The Memphis Young Democratic Socialists (901YDS), comprised of U of M students, staff, and alumni, helped organize Friday’s event.

The protest comes a day after U of M president M. David Rudd announced he would not be accepting a near $100,000 salary increase. Rudd currently earns a base salary of $394,075, according to the university.

Rudd

Rudd was expected to sign a new contract to receive $525,000 annually beginning October 1st, but said Thursday that he believes “it is in the best interest of the institution to forgo any salary increases at this time.”

“Overall institutional efficiency has been at the forefront of my agenda from the day I started, a value I firmly believe and will continue to live,” Rudd wrote.

Tre Black, co-chairman of the 901YDS, said although he is “overjoyed” with the president’s decision, “there is still much work to be done.” He noted that Rudd didn’t mention if he would still accept the near $2 million in bonuses and benefits offered by the university’s board of trustees.

At the protest, students honed in on the issue of every campus employee making a living wage of $15 dollars an hour. Rudd assured the campus in July that a plan to raise all employees’ pay to $15 an hour over the next two years was in the works, but the details of that plan were never shared.

Rudd’s promise of paying a living wage to campus workers came after Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris moved to veto $1 million in county funding going toward the university’s new natatorium until a plan to pay all university employees was presented.

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“We have a definitive plan,” Rudd said at the time. “We’ll be at $15/hour in two years. And in a sustainable manner.”

Black said that 901YDS wants all campus workers to earn a living wage, including those hired under a work-study contract, those earning a stipend, part-time and full time employees, graduate workers, and adjunct professors.

The protesters also want Rudd to participate in a public forum with 901YDS and United Campus Workers, another organizer of Friday’s action, to address these and other issues relating to “inequality and unfair treatment of a large section of students and workers.”

As an example, Black cites graduate workers not receiving health care or a living wage, yet working more than 40 hours most weeks.

According to United Campus Workers, about 330 employees on campus are paid less than $15 an hour.

Maya Smith

Students demand living wage for all campus workers

The group has a petition on the Action Network website. In addition to asking Rudd to forgo additional bonuses, the petition asks that Rudd reveal the university’s plan to raise campus workers’ hourly wage to $15 an hour.

The petition also notes that the groups oppose any increases in tuition and fees: “We call upon the president and the board of trustees to freeze tuition and all administrative fees, not to be increased without approval of the students.”

See the full petition here.

The university did not immediately respond to the Flyer‘s request for comment. 

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U of M May Raise Minimum Wage to $10.10 Per Hour

After working as a custodian at the University of Memphis for eight years, 61-year-old Thelma Rimmer only makes $8.94 an hour.

“I can hardly make it,” Rimmer said. “I’ve been up there eight years. I guess they’ve given me a dollar a year. When I first started, I was making $7.25. There are people who’ve been there 20 years that are not even making $10 an hour. Most people there have to work two or three jobs [to maintain a living].”

Rimmer is one of approximately 110 workers at the U of M who could receive a pay raise if the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) approves the university’s proposal to raise its hourly wage to $10.10 for regular, benefits-eligible employees.

The proposal will be considered at TBR’s December board meeting. If approved, the increase would be implemented in January 2015. It would mainly impact custodial workers, grounds workers, parking assistants, and clerks.

Thelma Rimmer

According to the U of M, the lowest minimum wage for employees in benefits-eligible positions is $8.75 per hour. Currently, the lowest wage paid for that position at the university is $8.88 per hour.

U of M president M. David Rudd said he’s been determined to raise salaries for the university’s lowest paid workers since being appointed in May.

“We value our employees and believe that raising the salaries of our lowest paid employees is the right thing to do,” Rudd said. “We have been working towards this for several years, and our human resources department identified initiatives that created sufficient savings to make this increase possible. It’s a critical issue for the University of Memphis and certainly one of our priorities.”

The fight to raise minimum wages for employees in benefits-eligible positions at the U of M has been ongoing since 2010. The United Campus Workers (UCW), of which Rimmer is vice president, has been on the frontline in the fight. The organization has been pushing to secure better wages for benefits-eligible employees at all state-based institutions.

The UCW has had moderate success with its movement. In 2013, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville raised minimum wages for campus workers to $9.50 in response to the UCW’s campaign.

Tom Anderson, president of the UCW, said although the ultimate goal is a living wage of $15 per hour for all low-paid campus workers, increasing minimum wages to $10.10 is a great start in compensating employees fairly for their labor.

Anderson said the increase could “mean an economic boom for Memphis.”

“Even when you get beyond the initial impact of taking home more money, it means increased stability for people [and] increased buying power,” Anderson said. “And all the people this would affect spend money in the community, so it supports local businesses [and] the city of Memphis, whether it’s house payments or rent or just groceries or getting your car fixed.”

Rimmer said she and her colleagues would appreciate a raise to $10.10 an hour, but they still desire an income that allows them to avoid living paycheck-to-paycheck.

“People have families. They want to be able to have a house, a car, take their kids out and let them go do things,” Rimmer said. “What do you think the common laborer should make? I think $15 per hour would be just fine. For a person to work 22 years, you don’t think they deserve at least $15 to retire? There are a lot of folks at the university that have retired on minimum wage.”

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University of Memphis Grad Assistants Demand Health Coverage

CREDIT: Bianca Phillips

When Le’Trice Donaldson was a graduate assistant (GA) at the University of Memphis, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. But because the university doesn’t offer health coverage to GAs, and her income from the university was only $900 a month, Donaldson wasn’t sure how she would afford medical care.

“The first thing that came to my mind after my diagnosis was, ‘How am I going to pay for this?'” Donaldson said.

Luckily, Donaldson qualified for a TennCare loophole that only applies to breast cancer patients. But not every GA is so fortunate when he or she gets sick. Around 25 percent of

Bianca Phillips

United Campus Workers demand Medicaid expansion during Bill Haslam’s recent visit to Memphis.

U of M GAs have no health insurance.

Additionally, those whose stipends fall below $11,490 per year don’t qualify for Medicaid or for subsidies through the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Had Governor Bill Haslam chosen to expand Medicaid after the ACA was passed, those GAs would have access to health coverage subsidies through the ACA Marketplace.

Now, United Campus Workers has begun putting pressure on the university to provide health insurance to GAs and the state to expand Medicaid.

GAs are employees of the university. While they attend classes toward their own graduate degree, they’re also teaching classes for undergrads or working in research labs.

Since they’re working at the university, their tuition is waived, and they receive a stipend, but the amount of that stipend differs by department. Some make less than $11,000 a year and others top out at $18,000.

They’re not allowed to hold additional outside jobs because, according to Interim Dean of the U of M Graduate School Jasbir Dhaliwal, “they are full-time students, and we want them to focus on their studies.”

Josh Dohmen, a GA in the philosophy department, helped compile a report on how other schools handle insurance for GAs. Of the U of M’s academic peers (schools that are comparable to the U of M based on academic accomplishment), 75 percent offer full health coverage to GAs. Of the U of M’s funding peers (schools with similar financial resources), 50 percent provide full coverage. The University of Tennessee system provides health coverage as part of their GAs’ stipends.

Dohmen’s report, which was compiled last academic year, also surveyed U of M students about their personal health insurance situations — 25.1 percent of the

U of M’s GAs were uninsured; 37.2 percent were on a parent or spouse’s plan; 22.1 percent were on a U of M student plan (but as of this academic year, that student plan no longer exists); and 15.6 percent had coverage under the ACA.

“We brought that report in to the administration of the Graduate School, and we were told that we shouldn’t be asking the university for funding, but that we should be putting pressure on the state to fund the university better,” Dohmen said. “I think it’s the case, if they wanted to, they could give health insurance to their GAs. But if that is legitimately not the case and I’m wrong, they need to be the ones putting pressure on the state. They have lobbyists in Nashville.”

Dhaliwal said, “In a perfect world, we certainly would like to provide health insurance.” But he said funding for GAs is limited.

“If we were to start offering health insurance, the number of GAs we could have would be less,” Dhaliwal said. “We feel there’s a shortage in the community for advanced degrees, and we’re trying to provide as much education as possible to as many people as possible.”

Dohmen said United Campus Workers will continue to pressure the university and the state. Just last week, outside the Shelby County Health Department while Haslam was in Memphis getting a flu shot, they held a protest to demand the state expand Medicaid.

“I plan to take my report [on how other schools handle health coverage] to the administration of the University of Memphis,” Dohmen said. “And I am in talks with University of Tennessee-Knoxville to draft a statewide letter saying [health coverage] is what we need. We need to raise awareness to folks making financial decisions for the state.”