2008 Woodie Awards
Who's doing the dirty work?
Will Minton, Guest Columnist
Issue date: 12/5/05 Section: Forum
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It is so easy, in fact, students tend to forget what it takes, and whom it takes, to make it possible to attend college and stress out in the first place.
Obviously, a college needs students, professors and administrators (sometimes), but there are many people that play crucial roles in the day-to-day activity of our schools that go underappreciated.
These people include janitors, maintenance staff, food service workers and security.
Although our school would come to a complete standstill without these folks, we hardly regard them as an integral part. This is reflected not only in how they are treated by the administration and students but also in how they are paid.
This may be surprising to some, but a large number of employees at UMKC are receiving a poverty level wage for their hard work.
To point, a wage under 130 percent of the federal poverty line (i.e. $12.57 per hour) does not provide an income with which people can reasonably sustain themselves and their children.
Our University's refusal to pay at least this wage not only leaves our workers struggling to get by but forces the taxpayer to foot the bill through such programs as welfare and food stamps.
Thus, paying a living wage is not only socially but also fiscally responsible.
A fair and relevant question to ask: here at UMKC, who is actually doing more for the average student? The most top-heavy administration in the University of Missouri System or the everyday worker?
Because of a growing concern about this issue, communities across the map have started Living Wage programs for their workers.
Hundreds of cities and universities have instituted or are working on a livable wage for their employees.
Just this past spring a group of students at Washington University in St. Louis, through a direct action, convinced their administration to pay all their employees higher wages.
If a successful Living Wage campaign is possible here in Missouri, it is possible anywhere.
Being a student at a college or university puts you in an interesting place; you can actually stand up and fight for issues without getting fired for it. This unique position gives students a position of power we often do not realize.
Therefore, the only way in which these workers will be treated fairly at this campus or other UM System schools may be if students themselves take a stand.
In the end it is, after all, our money. We should at least have a say in how it is spent.
For more information about the UMKC Living Wage campaign, please contact Will Minton, UMKC Living Wage organizer, at whm5f5@umkc.edu.
