It's time people and companies started treating their employees like human beings. You can't feed and shelter a family for $8 and hour, nevermind $5.15/hr. A mother earning the minimum wage is, under our own guidelines, living in poverty - absolutely shameful.
The New York Times has a great story today about the living wage campaign at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, which Campus Progress supports through our action grant program. The chancellor there, Gordon Gee, is the third highest-paid university president in the nation, yet workers such as gardeners and housekeepers make under $8 an hour, far less than the national average for their positions. A living wage in the region would be about $10 per hour. One housekeeper tells the Times she and her daughters are living in a homeless shelter. And to rub salt in the wound, Gee recently chose to renovate his chancellor's mansion to the tune of $6 million.
The University's response is beyond shameful. Spokesman Michael J. Schoenfeld tells the Times, "Any large, complex university, any large institution, any large company, is going to have to make an almost infinite number of decisions about how to expend resources and what is consistent with the mission." Riiiight. Just like Wal-Mart, the second-most profitable company in the nation with over $11 billion in profits, can't afford to offer health insurance, pay workers overtime, or purchase workers' uniforms for them.
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