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Most Cornell workers put up a cheerful face while at work, but only some of them are organized by the UAW Local 2300. Whether you like unions or not, few people realize that even with their backing, many workers cannot afford to take their children to the doctor for, say, tooth checkups. They may not have electricity in parts of their home because they cannot afford to replace the worn-out and dangerous wiring. They may have to take up a second job, like raising chickens, to pay for household expenses. All these, and more, are documented in the video "In the Shadow of the Clocktower," created by the same UAW chapter a few years ago.
Not much has changed in the intervening years. We urge you to support the Justice For Cornell Workers campaign by cutting out the postcard above and putting it in boxes marked "Campus Mail" at your nearby service center. Some say that college students are idealistic because they don’t have the burden of families to look after. These workers do, and they need our support.
What
Is A Living Wage?
A living wage is the level of pay that allows a household to make ends meet. The minimum wage falls well short of that goal. For instance, someone who takes not a day off from working full time for minimum wage earns $10,712 a year, before taxes and government subsidies. Compare this to the $9,000 for a dorm room plus $2,530 for meals in the dining halls, and it becomes grossly apparent that conscientious employers cannot sleep well. While the Clintonian Earned Income Tax Credit, expanded Medicaid, and other programs subsidize the cost of living, the help is simply too small to raise a healthy family, especially one led by a single wage earner.
According to COLA and JFCW, Cornell pays $8.50 an hour for union members, and $9 for non-union workers. Is this enough?
The following chart shows the estimated living wage, as extrapolated from figures in a 1998 report by the Alternatives Federal Credit Union supplied by COLA, assuming an annual inflation rate of 2.5%. EITC and other data are best estimates made by the authors using IRS forms and financial news sources.
So, if you work for a university that imports Sicilian marbles for a building that costs more than the labor to build it (in the case of Theater Arts), there is nothing left after paying for your own expenses. This seems somehow incredulous. Many workers cannot afford to live in Tompkins County, so they must drive a long way. This significantly increases their transportation cost. What’s more, most workers have dependents to care for. They cannot afford a babysitter, or even dental exams. This is unacceptable. Workers are laid off for the summer months, resulting in equivalently significantly lower wages since temporary work, even at predictable times, is difficult to find for such short periods. Many complain that their children do not get the educational help they need for advancing to higher paying jobs, and will not be able to go to college. Conservatives often blame poverty on the incompetence of the low-income people, but even if that were true, now we know why.
Full-time
union employees earn $13,600, plus roughly $2,203 and $3,691 from EITC for those
with one or two children, respectively. As the chart shows, this does not lift
workers above minimum living standards. EITC is a great program, and should be
publicized, but it alone cannot combat poverty.
Cornell pays $6.50 an hour to temporary workers, about half the living wage.
A living wage can help workers who are not employed by Cornell University, which as "the dominant employer in Tompkins County and essentially sets the wage scales for most employers in Tompkins County and the surrounding counties," according to those involved in the Justice for Cornell Workers campaign. It is many times larger than the second biggest employer in the county. It can thus set an example for others to follow, and as a higher educational institution, it should.
Morality and Ethics
The administration often claims that it cannot afford to do so, but the Tompkins Cortland Community College and SUNY schools offer better pay to their staff. Obviously these institutions have far more stringent financial abilities, yet they understand the needs of their employees. Being better endowed, Cornell has no excuse.
Administrators sometimes warn that if all workers receive a living wage, the additional costs must be borne by someone. Many students believe in this threat and thus oppose decent treatment. However, only 18% of the operating budget comes from the tuition. Furthermore, multimillion-dollar projects are started all the time, such as building new dormitories on North Campus or erecting Duffield Hall in Engineering Quad. If the budget were indeed stretched to the limit already, then every such project would cause a tuition hike or financial aid cut, or suspension of new teaching and research facilities. The university, however, felt reasonably secure with its finances and made no such moves. They worry about burdens on students only when workers want a living wage.
They seek to argue that somehow, paying
people at insufficient levels is
sufficient, that somehow American workers at universities
don’t create goods and services worth a living wage.
Conservatives like to promote single-earner households, and more than 30% of Americans agree in practice. They succeeded in providing equal social security benefits to families with homemakers and those with two wage earners. Yet they shirk the opportunity to do the same for low-income couples. By marshalling the voices of opponents of the living wage, they seek to argue that somehow, paying people at insufficient levels is sufficient, that somehow American workers at universities don’t create goods and services worth a living wage. We do not have any chance of attaining a bright future when the workers cannot pay their bills, which forces them to cut back on such necessities and electricity, food, or healthcare. Common sense says people who do not eat well or receive needed medical services will get weaker and sicker. Ethics and morality, so often on the lips of conservatives, suddenly disappear when they are asked to give a deserved helping hand. Cornell officials are not White House officials, and we hope they demonstrate the values we hold so dear.
Critics have raised the question of using the above formulas. Workers live in different conditions with different numbers of dependents, but the pay must be uniform, so those with many children will have much smaller spending powers than those without. The costs would also skyrocket. Yet even the single, no-dependent worker earns far less than the living wage, so room for improvement is sorely needed. We can discuss the details of pay, but the university should and must immediately commit to lifting all of its workers out of poverty by raising the pay to above the minimum living wage.
What Can You Do?
What can you do to make life better for university employees, just as they have done for you? Sign the petition on the front pageand drop it in the Campus Mail box. It’s free, and you can feel better the next time you say "thanks" to a Cornell worker.
Surveys have consistently shown that virtually all workers support raising the minimum wage. As front-line employees, they should have a good understanding of the efficiency and business conditions. Most critics then dismiss these as uninformed opinions, yet their economic models believe in perfectly rational consumers. We don’t think workers are so ignorant. Furthermore, minimum wage is not enough to sustain oneself healthily, so any short-term economic justification simply leads to an ever-weakening workforce that becomes less and less productive. A low wage incurs a negative externality, just like pollution, because the employer does not take into account the negative consequences of a wage lower than necessary to sustain the worker. Also, well-developed economic theories do exist that support the notion that setting wage floor actually reduces the marginal cost of hiring, even if the worker produces less value than the minimum wage. Simply consult an intermediate-level economics textbook. Finally, offering a higher wage than others induces enthusiasm and loyalty, producing a more productive workforce. Employees will work harder because they know that other jobs do not pay as well.
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By
Tsee Yuan Lee, President