Support a Living Wage for Workers

The United Auto Works Local 2300, which comprises the dining, grounds, and custodial workers for Cornell University, aren’t very happy right now. Would you be if a university, who cites “budget concerns” as the reason why they won’t pay you enough to live on, actually has an endowment that’s $4 billion higher than many Fortune 500 companies?

I’d be protesting with my hand out.

These workers make 20% less than the annual living wage for their county, and Cornell has a history of paying its service workers less than other comparable colleges, such as Dartmouth and Syracuse University, pay theirs—even though these universities have lower costs of living.

Now, you and I both know that this university has some dinero. The fact that they have it and they’re not giving it to their workers is disrespectful and unethical.

 As full-time employees, these workers are relying on their jobs to support themselves and their families. When you work full-time and you still qualify for food stamps and other forms of government assistance, something is wrong. People who work this hard, for this many hours, in any profession should be able to feel proud of the honest day of labor they’ve put in—and be able to use the pay from that labor to live on rather than worry about where they will get their next meal, or how their daughter is going to get braces.

In fact, most workers make less than $23,000 a year—and some earn as little as $16,500. That’s not enough to pay bills and buy food and childcare, given the fact that a family of four in the area requires an annual income of about $60,000 for simple survival.

In addition to all of this, seasonal workers who are laid off during summer breaks receive no compensation, and often remain unemployed for the whole summer. While New York does not maintain any laws to enforce paying workers during breaks, many colleges still do. Columbia University, for example, gives its workers $125 weekly during breaks—which still isn’t much, but it’s certainly better than nothing.

Teachers and bus drivers get compensated for summer breaks if they choose to do so; why not other seasonal workers?

You can send a message to David Skorton, Cornell President and Mary Opperman, its Vice-President, urging them to pay these workers enough to live on. Help these service workers negotiate fair contracts and be paid for the work they do.