Living Wage
An Interview with Ellen McSweeney, spokesperson for LIVE
Issue date: 10/26/05 Section: features
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Versus Magazine Online [Image based format]
Q: Why should a Vanderbilt student care about Living Wage?
A: It has always upset me to see people being exploited; for example, when a university pays a worker only $15,000 a year. We want to believe that Vanderbilt really cares about everyone who is involved here. It's not only about Vanderbilt. At one point, the minimum wage represented a living wage. Now someone can't live on minimum wage if he or she tried. Vanderbilt is a small part of the greater struggle for positive growth. We are acting as locally as we can.
Q: Didn't we have a wage increase of $1.05 last March? Why is November 2006 so important?
A: The wage increase was a fantastic victory for Vanderbilt and its employees. This was an important step, but it was just a step. The $1.05 wage increase was not across the board. The minimum wage for Vanderbilt increased to $7.55 with smaller incremental raises for higher paid employees. The negotiations that happened last school year were mid-contract and optional. The actual contract for Vanderbilt employees ends in November 2006. There is a lot more pressure to find a meaningful resolution. November 2006 is a definite deadline to having a decision on this issue.
Q: Some economic professors argue the minimum wage increase will force Vanderbilt not to be able to hire as many new people and some won't have the opportunity to work. What's your response to this argument?
A: Studies in cities which have living wage ordinances (in Baltimore recently, for example) did not show significant job loss, even though all the metro employees received a pay increase. At Vanderbilt, we are going to need the same amount of people to do the work that is done on our campus no matter what we pay these people. The work that is done on our campus needs to get done. It's not expendable work. The number of jobs doesn't need to change and the number of people hired doesn't need to change. The only thing that changes is the way that they're paid.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to tell Vanderbilt students about Living Wage?
A: I would encourage anyone to do as much research as they can because it is extremely complicated. So many false numbers were used last year by people who just don't understand how complicated this issue is. Once we fully understand the issue, then we can talk about it in the best possible way.