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The Living Wage Campaign is a student-run movement started in 2009 that advocates a “living wage” for all employees at Northwestern. The movement includes students, Northwestern employees and employees of Northwestern contractors.
Positions
Living wage
The Living Wage Campaign holds that Northwestern should pay all of its employees a living wage and should pay more to contractors for paying their own employees at Northwestern a living wage.
The Living Wage Campaign defines a living wage as how much a family of a certain composition in a given place must earn to adequately meet their basic needs.
The campaign supports an hourly wage of $13.23 with health care benefits or $14.67 without health care. These wages, which are based on calculations from the Heartland Alliance, reflect the hourly wage the Heartland Alliance says each adult in a family of two adults must receive to cover living expenses if the family:
- lives in Northern suburban Cook County
- does not receive public or private assistance
- a preschool age child and a school age child
In contrast, the minimum wage in Illinois when the campaign began was $8.
Source of financing
The Living Wage Campaign argues that the costs involved in paying NU employees and subcontracted workers greater wages does not need to be shouldered by students but can rather be taken out of Northwestern’s budget. The Living Wage asserts that the university can afford paying its workers more.
Implementing living wages would cost the university between $3.3 million and $4 million annually, according to a statement from University Spokesman Al Cubbage. Funding from the living wage would need to come from room and board feeds or tuition and would cost each student living on campus an additional $400 to $500 a year, according to Cubbage.
The Living Wage Campaign criticizes Cubbage’s assessment and points to NU’s nearly $6 billion endowment and says the university can easily pay for living wages without forcing students to foot the bill.
History
The campaign began in November 2009 when students from the Northwestern Community Development Corps, a student-run community service organization, circulated a petition asking the Schapiro administration to ensure living wages for all employees at Northwestern. The petition amassed about 1,300 signatures, including signatures from dozens of faculty members. Campaign leaders sent the petition with a letter to University President Morton Schapiro. By the end of Fall Quarter, leaders of the campaign had a meeting with the president, who said he would look into the issue.
In late February, more than 370 members of the NU community marched in an NLWC-organized demonstration along Sheridan Road to the Rebecca Crown Center, which houses Schapiro’s office. The protesters shouted, “We will rally, rant and rage, till we see a living wage,” and carried signs with phrases like “This is for my family members who didn’t make it to college” and “Schapiro, be a hero.”
The rally drew little reaction from the administration aside from a noncommittal FAQ about employment at NU and the costs of implementing a living wage policy. University spokesman Al Cubbage e-mailed the document to The Daily as the event was taking place.
The campaign hosted several other events in winter and spring, including an informational session for prospective students and a “teach-in.” Students wrote Valentine’s Day cards to Schapiro reading, “Have a heart, President Schapiro.”
In April, Northwestern subcontracted workers built a “shanty town” of three tents outside administrative offices and protested the university’s contract with Sodexo.
The campaign achieved its first tangible victory when the administration promised in April to provide subcontracted workers with “community benefits,” such as access to university parking lots and WildCARD privileges.
In September 2010, students from the campaign attempted to deliver petitions to Northwestern trustees but were turned away by university police. The Daily editorial board criticized the campaign for lacking professionalism and good strategy. A letter to the editor defended the campaign’s strategy.
The campaign marched in the 2010 Homecoming Parade.
Criticism
In interviews with the Daily, Schapiro, who has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania, criticized the campaign’s decision to push specifically for a $13.23 wage, calling it oversimplified and a case of “bad economics.” Demanding subcontractors pay a minimum wage would compromise the union-subcontractor negotiation process and be ultimately detrimental to workers, he said. He also cited low wages for subcontractor workers as a reason the university laid off fewer workers than other schools did after the economic recession started.
Contributors: Chris Kirk
