Last week’s Tennessee budget crisis has left University of Memphis employees with several questions concerning the pay raises handed down from lawmakers and the use of their vacation time to offset the three-day work stoppage.
In the state’s budget passed last Wednesday, public school and higher education employees were granted a two percent raise effective Jan. 1. Meanwhile, other state employees received a three-percent pay raise, leaving U of M and other state employees wondering why they received less.
A campus landscaping employee working near the Administration Building, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of losing his job, said the two percent pay increase is too low.
“I feel for the job we are doing, we deserve more than two percent,” he said. “I feel we are not treated very important. They say we are important, but they haven’t shown us we are important. We keep the outside of the school clean just like the custodial staff keeps the inside clean. We have important jobs.”
The worker said because of last week’s furlough, he may have lost vacation time he already had plans for.
“I had to tell my kids that we may not be going to St. Louis to go to Six Flags, because I may have already used up my vacation time. That is not fair.”
However, U of M president Shirley Raines told U of M employees Wednesday that she expects the Tennessee Board of Regents to approve a plan on Monday that would compensate furloughed employees for lost work time without taking vacation days.
But that’s about as far as the good news goes, said Calvin Strong, Staff Senate president.
“Higher education is spiraling downward when it comes to salaries,” Strong said. “We are losing professors to other universities. We are also losing people from the Physical Plant, and to places like St. Jude. A two percent raise is a slap in the face.”
David Hyde, an office assistant for international programs, questioned why other state employees got a three percent raise.
“I would like to know what was the rationale for their decision,” Hyde said. “Maybe they assume people would rather be hanging out and working on a college campus instead of working at the DMV.”
“With all the things going wrong in Nashville, I think this declares the legislative non-essential,” he added.
Psychology professor William Dwyer said a two percent increase would still leave professors at The University under the regional average.
“From my understanding, we are paid 20 percent below our colleagues in this region,” Dwyer said. “That is why we have good professors leaving to take jobs at other universities.”
Strong added the notion that any U of M employee could be considered non-essential was absurd.
“Calling some of the employees non-essential was absolutely ridiculous,” he said. “We don’t have any non-essential employees here. Everyone we have here is important. We need everybody we have here.”
