After a lengthy battle between the administration and its lowest-paid employees, the University of Memphis has requested that the Tennessee Board of Regents increase the minimum salary from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour.
This comes just weeks after three units were combined to form the new division of External Relations. The estimated savings for this administrative move is suppose to be around $600,000.
In an email sent on Monday to faculty and staff, University President David Rudd said the raise “represents a 14 percent increase for some of our lowest paid employees and is over 28 percent higher than the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.” Furthermore, campus employees will still receive longevity pay between $300 and $3,000 per year based on their years of service.
Campus workers all across Tennessee have been embroiled in a fight for over 17 years, and this is the first win for the U of M campus workers.
“United Campus Workers was founded out of a living-wage campaign that kicked off at UT Knoxville in 1997. Our first living wage campaign kick off at the University of Memphis was in 2010,” Tom Smith, an organizing coordinator for the United Campus Workers-Communication Workers of America, said.
The movement to raise the minimum wage has been headed by the UCW-CWA, Tennessee’s higher education union. There have been several petitions sent to former University President Shirley Raines to raise the minimum salary for University workers. While their efforts proved unsuccessful, Raines was given a 15.8 percent raise. The raise led to several protests and a feeling of unhappiness among many employees.
“We’ve been fighting for this a long time,” Thelma Rimmer, a custodial worker at the U of M, said. “We used to go to TBR every year.”
This is the first action that the U of M administration has taken, but the workers say the fight is far from over. The raise still does not satisfy University employees’ need for a raise that would constitute a living wage, some say. Although, many workers involved in this fight are pleased that there has finally been a breakthrough.
“It’s a good start. It’s going to help a lot of people out,” Rimmer said. “I think the $10.10 is a good effort, but we’re still fighting for the $15.”
Smith, who has been working alongside campus workers to achieve a $15 living wage, believes that this is a step in the right direction for the University.
“$10.10 an hour is an important milestone and an important step towards our living-wage goal,” Smith said. “We welcome the leadership President Rudd has shown.”
A living wage is considered the wage that would allow the employee to be financially secure. This is what the campus employees have been fighting for all along. Many are asking for a wage that would allow them to support their families.
“We have a growing income inequality problem,” Smith said. “We have to have an economy that works for working people and not just an economy that works for the top one percent.”
The employees were initially asking for a raise to $11.62 an hour. According to the 2010 edition of former U of M economics professor David Ciscel’s “What Is A Living Wage For Memphis,” this figure is the wage of a family with two children where both parents work full time.
Even student organizations have tried to bring attention to this issue.
“We’re working with the UCW to promote our living wage campaign,” Alex Uhlman, the co-chair of the Progressive Student Alliance, said. “Which is trying to achieve a living wage for campus workers through increased funding from the state.”
This $10.10 raise will only apply to University employees who are eligible for benefits and will not go into effect until January 2015.
Campus workers are relieved to finally see a change, but the struggle will continue for a higher living wage. It has created hope among the workers and students who see this as a major victory for workers’ rights.
