Spring Break
Is a living wage right for MU?
Issue date: 3/21/06 Section: OpEd Page
Excellence includes staff
A living wage is not a handout. It is not charity, it is not generosity and it is not a helping hand. A living wage is much more that that. It is the right to equitable life - it is the general standard of living for a person to survive with the most basic worldly needs.
Living wage campaigns have hit stride across the nation, marking universities such as Georgetown, Harvard and Yale. On Miami's campus, it is the obligation of our community as well as the university to pay workers a decent wage. The fact that the workers who clean our residence halls, work our university grounds, and run our school from the inside out are living in poverty is unjust and inexcusable.
A living wage, according to www.livingwageaction.org, is "the most basic costs of living without need for government support or poverty programs." It is comprised of seven basic living costs - housing, food, childcare, transportation, healthcare, taxes and other basic necessities, such as clothing - that a person working full-time must have to survive. It is crucial to understand that a living wage is only viable if it is indexed to inflation annually. Establishing a concrete number on paper will not help employees if that number is not treated as a changing amount.
What would this mean for Miami? Starting wages would be raised accordingly so that no full-time employee of Miami would have to depend on outside assistance for basic living needs. The wages of a full-time staff worker would be enough to support him or her throughout life without the need for government aid.
Miami employs workers who are taking up one or more other jobs just to survive. For those who work upwards of 80 hours a week, other opportunities are not only impractical but also nearly impossible. What good are class offerings or "job enrichment" programs for university employees when they have no time to do it? What good are tuition benefits for themselves or their children when they can't afford dinner or an oil change, let alone college textbooks and other college expenses?
A living wage is not a handout. It is not charity, it is not generosity and it is not a helping hand. A living wage is much more that that. It is the right to equitable life - it is the general standard of living for a person to survive with the most basic worldly needs.
Living wage campaigns have hit stride across the nation, marking universities such as Georgetown, Harvard and Yale. On Miami's campus, it is the obligation of our community as well as the university to pay workers a decent wage. The fact that the workers who clean our residence halls, work our university grounds, and run our school from the inside out are living in poverty is unjust and inexcusable.
A living wage, according to www.livingwageaction.org, is "the most basic costs of living without need for government support or poverty programs." It is comprised of seven basic living costs - housing, food, childcare, transportation, healthcare, taxes and other basic necessities, such as clothing - that a person working full-time must have to survive. It is crucial to understand that a living wage is only viable if it is indexed to inflation annually. Establishing a concrete number on paper will not help employees if that number is not treated as a changing amount.
What would this mean for Miami? Starting wages would be raised accordingly so that no full-time employee of Miami would have to depend on outside assistance for basic living needs. The wages of a full-time staff worker would be enough to support him or her throughout life without the need for government aid.
Miami employs workers who are taking up one or more other jobs just to survive. For those who work upwards of 80 hours a week, other opportunities are not only impractical but also nearly impossible. What good are class offerings or "job enrichment" programs for university employees when they have no time to do it? What good are tuition benefits for themselves or their children when they can't afford dinner or an oil change, let alone college textbooks and other college expenses?
