Last week, the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 was introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill proposes a gradual increase of the federal minimum wage over four years from $7.25 to $15 an hour, a policy change President Joe Biden campaigned on.
While this is an important step in the fight for a higher minimum wage, our own University should not wait for what may turn out to be a slow or unsuccessful legislative battle to do the right thing. Instead, we should act quickly to establish a minimum wage of $15 an hour for every employee on campus.
Louisiana is one of only five states that has not adopted a statewide minimum wage, meaning we default to the $7.25 federal minimum wage. A full-time worker making $7.25 an hour brings home $15,080 a year, putting a single person barely above the poverty line and sinking any household with more than one person far below it.
According to the University of California, Davis Center for Poverty, the real value of the federal minimum wage has been in decline for decades and has not been raised in over a decade, despite the fact that the cost of living has since increased by 20%.
Increasing the minimum wage could contribute significantly to decreasing the racial wealth gap. Research by Harvard University found that raising the minimum wage in the 1960s and ’70s decreased income disparities between Black and white workers by more than 20%. Doing the same thing today would help address the chronic racial wealth inequality that persists in our society.
It is absolutely unacceptable that someone in this country could work full-time and still not make enough to support themselves. A minimum wage that does not prevent workers and working families from living in poverty is an abject failure of government policy and is a moral failing on the part of our University if it does not go beyond the measly legal requirement and instead chooses to pay unlivable wages to so many employees.
Online job postings show wages ranging as low as $8 and $9 per hour for workers in dining and custodial services.
Essential workers on campus are the only reason the University has been able to operate during the pandemic. Not only that, but these workers are often put at increased risk of COVID-19 infection, as many are unable to work remotely due to the nature of their industry.
The past few months have proven how much we rely on essential workers both on and off campus. It should be our number-one priority to ensure they get fair compensation.
The pandemic has also shown the importance of ensuring student workers earn adequate wages. The economic troubles associated with COVID-19 have only worsened the persistent problems many college students face, including hunger, housing insecurity and burdensome loan debt. Raising the minimum wage on campus would no doubt lessen the severity of these issues.
Some professors have already recognized this and raised wages for the students on their payroll.
I spoke on the issue with Dr. Robert Mann, a professor at LSU’s Manship School of Mass Communication.
“I have resolved that for the next student worker I hire, I will request permission from [Human Resources Management]…to pay them $15 per hour,” Professor Mann said.
“They may not approve it, but I feel that I should make an argument for why that is a fair wage. We have many students who are working hard on and off campus to make ends meet and to put themselves through college. It seems like it’s the least we can do to pay them a decent, fair wage for their labor.”
It is important for HRM to remove any obstacles that may prevent professors from adequately compensating their student workers, especially for those like Dr. Mann, who pays students from his own private funds.
While some critics of a $15 minimum wage argue the measure is too costly, Dr. Mann points out, “If [we] pay our football coaches millions without batting an eye, I feel that paying a hardworking student $15 hour is not all that outrageous.”
This is precisely right. Claims that the University simply doesn’t have the money to pay workers fairly may be put to rest with a quick look at the exorbitant salaries paid to our football coaches.
Coach Ed Orgeron, for example, has a decade-long contract that pays $6 million a year and includes luxurious benefits like social club access, private air travel and millions of dollars in additional annual compensation. Orgeron is a government employee, mind you.
It is inexcusable and frankly disgusting that the University could pay one man so much and relegate its other employees to poverty. Of course, this reflects the economic inequality found in our nation at large; a lucky few make more than they could ever need, while the masses are paid far less than what they deserve.
There is no doubt that the University has a long way to go in its labor practices.
While it is perhaps unlikely the University will willingly adopt a $15 minimum wage before it becomes federally mandated, it is still a worthwhile fight to demand more than what we have now. Anything less would be a disservice to the essential workers who help make our campus run.
Claire Sullivan is an 18-year-old coastal environmental science major from Southbury, CT.
