Living Wage Campaign demands change in employee pay rates

Staff Writer
Zoë Dehmer

A group of VCU students are challenging the university’s pay standards for its employees through an initiative called the Living Wage Campaign.

The students are trying to inspire the VCU community to persuade the university to establish a living wage for every VCU employee. This includes workers employed by Aramark, a contractor that provides food services to campus. Aramark hires its own management staff, janitorial staff and food service workers.

According to VCU’s employment Web page, the university employs 18,000 faculty, staff and hourly employees. Many of these jobs, including those through contractors like Aramark and adjunct faculty positions, are paid less than what would be considered a living wage.

A living wage is the hourly rate that an individual must receive to support themselves if they work full-time (2,080 hours per year). A living wage estimate is for someone who is living with the bare minimum and is not the same as a middle-class income or minimum wage.

According to a national study by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Professor Amy Glasmeier and assistant researcher Eric Schultheis, a living wage for one single adult (without dependents) in Richmond is currently $10.39 per hour. The state minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and is the same for all individuals, regardless of how many dependents they have.

According to the VCU payroll list aquired by Capital News Service under the Freedom of Information Act, 2,767 hourly employees earn below the living wage. This number does not include Aramark employees.

The Living Wage Campaign (LWC) at VCU was an idea that started in a world studies class, Global Issues and Local Practices. Students Molly Placido, Camila Borja and eight classmates had to pick a local issue within Richmond, and over the course of one semester, start a campaign to combat the issue within the community.

During the campaign’s first few months during the class, the group’s goal was to establish a workers coalition. They began by establishing relationships with VCU workers to get a sense of their working conditions, then began conducting surveys to find out how many hours per week the employees work, whether they received benefits through their job, what they were being paid and if they used any state-funded financial assistance programs.

The group found that many were part time and therefore didn’t qualify for health care coverage.

The students were also shocked to find that the majority of Aramark employees are required to quit and later reapply for their own jobs at the end of every winter, spring and summer break on the VCU academic calendar. During those periods of unemployment, Aramark helps workers file for unemployment with the state, thus allowing for the state to supplement their income.

Nate Compton, an Aramark employee  who has worked at Einstein Bros Bagels for over a year, reported that he is paid $8.50 per hour. Compton is one of the employees who was able to keep his position over breaks, but he says Aramark didn’t schedual him for a single shift over the summer.

“It is a struggle as far as getting work during the breaks,” he said.

According to the LWC group members, last semester Aramark had 340 employees. During winter break roughly one-third, between 100-125 of them, were allowed to keep their jobs through the break.

The group collected some data that helped them to understand the working lives of VCU employees, like their working conditions and specific complaints they have about the structure of their worker contracts, but ultimately found that those surveyed were hesitant to give out their personal financial information.

“We went back to the drawing board and tried to maneuver in a different direction,” Placido said.

The LWC held a forum, conducted one-on-one interviews and encouraged workers to come to group meetings each Friday.

“While we got positive feedback, it was kind of still a minimal connection,” Placido said.

Borja, another of the group’s organizers, understood that their initial approach was too impersonal and didn’t establish the trusting relationship they hoped to gain with VCU employees.

“They see students all the time and students don’t tend to care about what they’re doing. All of a sudden (here) comes a group of students and they’re really interested in their working conditions and what VCU’s paying them. How do they know that we’re going to be serious?” she said.

Professor Jon Waybright is an adjunct professor in the School of World Studies. As an adjunct professor, he experiences a similar financial struggle to that of VCU service workers and VCU Aramark employees.

Due to budget cuts, his requests to VCU to become a full-time professor have been repeatedly denied. He teaches three courses at VCU, and said that in his department, he believes three is the maximum number an adjunct can teach. To supplement his income, Waybright also teaches two religious studies classes at Maggie Walker High School in Richmond.

“The one time I tried teaching six classes per semester I could tell that I couldn’t give the students enough,” he said. “Just like for students, there’s so much extra time outside of the classrooms. When I go home at night, I’m working,”

The Chronicle of Higher Education  maintains a database called the Adjunct Project, which compiles adjunct faculty pay rates from universities around the nation. According to the database, adjuncts at VCU make an average of $2,725 per semester-long three-credit course.

“If you break down the wages, I’m probably making $60 a week per class by the time you calculate the hours I’ve put in,” he said.

Waybright said he thinks it’s a pity the pay rate is what it is, “because higher education needs to value teachers more, period.”

In addition, Waybright noted that he has to be very conscious and occasionally constrictive in the way he teaches, with regards to how much time he can or can’t put in.

“I used to tell people that I teach for free. I love this. And then all of a sudden the bills come in, right? You have to get super smart, which really affects students,” he said. “I can’t put the number of hours that I really need to in to give them the full power and breadth of this educational experience without really shooting myself in my own foot. You just can’t.”

Over a year after beginning their efforts, the LWC is still actively campaigning for a living wage at VCU for every university employee, including adjuncts like Waybright. However, the students are not alone in their concern.

Nationwide, over 120 municipalities and counties have established living wage ordinances. In Virginia, Alexandria and Charlottesville have policies in effect.

Borja said the initiative is personal to her and should be personal to every VCU student.

“I’m a social justice major, so I spend time in all of my classes talking about what’s wrong with the world … but in the end you don’t end up realizing how you contribute to that,” she said. She stressed that just being aware of the situation is not enough.

“I know that I’ve been doing things that are keeping people in poverty,” Borja said. “If I don’t speak up for them, who will?”

Niko Centeno-Monroy is one student that heard about the LWC campaign and decided to join in their efforts this semester.

“These are my professors we’re talking about,” he said. “Or the cashier that takes my money when I go and buy something at the Commons. These are the janitors that pick up our trash in the library while we’re studying. All of us students have a more direct relationship with these people than the superstar coaches that I, at least, never interact with, and we don’t even realize it.”

As of press time, VCU Dining Services and Aramark had not returned requests for comment. CT

On Monday, April 15 at 5 p.m. in Richmond Salon I in the student commons, the VCU LWC is hosting an open forum with special guest faculty to engage in a dialogue on the pros and cons of a living wage.