Rewind & Replay: Watch It Again March 27, 2008

If you’ve seen it, watch it again and consider posting a comment on the YouTube page: www.youtube.com/watch?v=pctMvVHTNAo

If you haven’t seen it, take 5 minutes to be moved, inspired and informed about the Living Wage Campaign!

Either way, PASS IT ON to folks you know: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pctMvVHTNAo

And let folks know they can visit our blog to stay up to date: http://asclivingwagecampaign.wordpress.com/

If you feel moved to write something of your own in support of a living wage at Agnes Scott, send it to us (ascalumsforalivingwage@gmail.com) and we’ll post it to this blog!

Carmen’s Letter of Support March 27, 2008

Dear President Kiss and Agnes Scott College Board of Trustees,

 

As a proud Agnes Scott Alumna I was appalled, while I was in college and to this day, at the treatment of some of the members of the staff. How can members of the staff positively contribute to our every day lives, as our second family, when they are themselves being treated as second class citizens?

 

Many days during my 4 years at Agnes Scott, my only family consisted of members of the staff and contracted employees. These were the individuals who were there every single day for us, and treated us as part of their families. There was not a day when I could cry, and vent, and laugh to one of the members of the Board of Trustees, per say. When I was in need of encouragement, and a caring individual, these are the individuals to whom I credit my amazing college experience. Anyone can throw money into a building and create a place called “Agnes Scott”, but it is the people who dedicate of themselves, who are there for us on a daily basis, and console our struggles, who make our experience in those four walls a true experience of learning.

I am writing to let you know that I support a living wage at Agnes Scott College.  I support and commend the Agnes Scott College Living Wage Campaign’s efforts to change economic insufficiencies and institutional injustice at Agnes Scott College.

Since 1994, the Agnes Scott College (ASC) Living Wage Campaign (LWC) has been pushing for just wages, a democratized workplace, and institutionalized respect.  ASC has the financial ability to become a collegiate leader in economic justice, through fairly and justly compensating its staff; to truly live honorably as an institution, it must be willing to do so. The staff, students, faculty and alumnae involved in the LWC propose concrete solutions to eradicate current economic exploitation and injustice at ASC.

I stand in solidarity with the ASC LWC and support their complete list of requests made in a letter to the Board of Trustees (10/26/07).  In particular, I support:

1. A just starting/base wage of $14.40, the current living wage for Decatur, GA as of fall 2007 (according to research done by the ASC LWC–this figure should be adjusted for cost of living every few years according to the economy), plus paid healthcare for all ASC staff and all contracted staff.  This includes, but is not limited to, custodial, food services, clerical/faculty services, public safety, and the contracted ValleyCrest landscaping employees.
2. That ASC ensures that Aramark staff has the same pay and benefits as ASC staff.
3. Inclusion of all Staff in all historically student and faculty-centered traditions and events that are integral to ASC’s fundamental purpose and overall history, creating a democratic structure that honors the wisdom and experience of all its members.
   1. End the blatantly crude isolation and “invisibility” of the Staff: for example, not seating uniformed Staff in “designated areas” which creates a culture in which certain members of the community are treated as second class citizens.
   2. Encourage and create spaces for Staff involvement in family and student on-campus events, such as Orientation and Alumnae Weekend.
   3. Begin new traditions of a combined holiday party, where all employees of all pay-grades and rankings celebrate together with faculty and administrators.
4. The provision for all members of the ASC community to have opportunities for personal enrichment. (i.e. Opening up eligibility to take part in degree courses to all interested part-time and full-time employees; ensuring Staff members full notification of all campus events and educational/employment relevant concerns.)

The current “Resolution on Living Wage Policy” put forth by the Board of Trustees (10/26/07) is inadequate, insulting and NOT a living wage.  The LWC demands respect for all people in the ASC community, the necessary redistribution of wealth and new priorities for the campus.

I ask you to join the LWC and support economic justice and equal rights for all members of the ASC community. Please institute a true living wage at ASC today!

Sincerely,

 

Carmen L. Bolívar

Letter of Support (also attached for printing–click below) December 13, 2007

LWC Letter of Support

Letter of Support InformationASC

December 8, 2007

Dear President Kiss and Agnes Scott College Board of Trustees,

I am writing to let you know that I support a living wage at Agnes Scott College. I support and commend the Agnes Scott College Living Wage Campaign’s efforts to change economic insufficiencies and institutional injustice at Agnes Scott College.

Since 1994, the Agnes Scott College (ASC) Living Wage Campaign (LWC) has been pushing for just wages, a democratized workplace, and institutionalized respect. ASC has the financial ability to become a collegiate leader in economic justice, through fairly and justly compensating its staff; to truly live honorably as an institution, it must be willing to do so. The staff, students, faculty and alumnae involved in the LWC propose concrete solutions to eradicate current economic exploitation and injustice at ASC.

I stand in solidarity with the ASC LWC and support their complete list of requests made in a letter to the Board of Trustees (10/26/07). In particular, I support:

1. A just starting/base wage of $14.40, the current living wage for Decatur, GA as of fall 2007 (according to research done by the ASC LWC–this figure should be adjusted for cost of living every few years according to the economy), plus paid healthcare for all ASC staff and all contracted staff. This includes, but is not limited to, custodial, food services, clerical/faculty services, public safety, and the contracted ValleyCrest landscaping employees.
2. That ASC ensures that Aramark staff has the same pay and benefits as ASC staff.
3. Inclusion of all Staff in all historically student and faculty-centered traditions and events that are integral to ASC’s fundamental purpose and overall history, creating a democratic structure that honors the wisdom and experience of all its members.
   1. End the blatantly crude isolation and “invisibility” of the Staff: for example, not seating uniformed Staff in “designated areas” which creates a culture in which certain members of the community are treated as second class citizens.
   2. Encourage and create spaces for Staff involvement in family and student on-campus events, such as Orientation and Alumnae Weekend.
   3. Begin new traditions of a combined holiday party, where all employees of all pay-grades and rankings celebrate together with faculty and administrators.
4. The provision for all members of the ASC community to have opportunities for personal enrichment. (i.e. Opening up eligibility to take part in degree courses to all interested part-time and full-time employees; ensuring Staff members full notification of all campus events and educational/employment relevant concerns.)

The current “Resolution on Living Wage Policy” put forth by the Board of Trustees (10/26/07) is inadequate, insulting and NOT a living wage. The LWC demands respect for all people in the ASC community, the necessary redistribution of wealth and new priorities for the campus.

I ask you to join the LWC and support economic justice and equal rights for all members of the ASC community. Please institute a true living wage at ASC today!

Sincerely,

A Letter One 2003 Alum Enclosed with Her Letter of Support to the President and Board of Trustees December 13, 2007

I am writing in support of a TRUE living wage for all ASC staff.  When I read the Board’s Resolution on Living Wage Policy, I was disturbed by the timeline for implementation of changes.  Moreover, I was offended by the length of service awards, beginning with $200 for 5 years of employment.  This is NOT a living wage!

ASC has the opportunity to join other collegiate leaders who have already instituted a living wage.  Don’t waste this chance!

I cannot in good faith begin donating to ASC until I know that ASC has stopped paying poverty wages to its staff.

Class of 2003

The ASC Living Wage Campaign VIDEO! December 13, 2007

 email: ascalumsforalivingwage@gmail.com for more information or call 404-966-2143.

Treah Caldwell: Why I Support a Living Wage at ASC December 13, 2007

 

I support a living wage because I care about the behind the scenes
work that went (and goes) on to make Agnes Scott a beautiful, calm
place to learn, to grow, to make mistakes and to keep trying.  As much
as I loved my professors who pushed me, who held me, who taught me so
much. I also loved the good folk who cleaned up after me, fed me, made
the quad a wonderful place to lay down and rest in the shining sun and
bright green grass.

I was taught to do right work, to make the world a better place for
women, for everyone. How can I go forward and NOT stand next to the
other staff, faculty, and alumna as we work to make a positive,
healthy change for a school I love so much?

Treah Caldwell
Class of 2000

Meredith Stepp: Why I Support a Living Wage at ASC December 13, 2007

 

Why I support a Living Wage at Agnes Scott College 
 

Over ten years ago, I recall reading the Profile piece “What it’s Like to Be a Maid Here” while attending Agnes Scott. The article was written just two years prior to my freshman year at ASC, yet somehow the description of the author’s experience as a custodian on campus had felt like forgotten history. As a student, I sometimes heard vague recollections of a living wage campaign at Agnes Scott; the dates were cloudy, the details spotty, the outcome unknown. It was a closed chapter in the college’s book of political growing pains.  

Having sat dormant for too long, that book has been recently reopened by a community of Agnes Scott students, alumnae, and faculty who have discovered what staff has known all long: that chapter hadn’t been resolved; its protagonists were left in the lurch. “What it’s Like to Be a Maid Here,” demonstrated the social caste system among ASC staff and marginalization of custodial workers. Today, economic segregation of campus cafeteria and custodial workers reinforces and perpetuates that caste system.  

The wages of ASC service workers have not kept pace with the rise in local cost of living and inflation. In addition to working full days cleaning campus buildings, many staff members work other night and weekend jobs in order to supplement their income. Much of this income is needed to purchase healthcare services which the school does not provide. Women who have worked forty-plus years straining their physical bodies to clean our dorms and classrooms face uncertain retirements with little or no insurance.  

Furthermore, the workload of campus custodians continues to mount as staff is downsized and cleaning responsibilities increase for those who survived the cut. The college touts its 1 to 10, student to faculty ratio but does not widely advertise its custodian to building ratio. Some staff are cleaning not one, but two, entire buildings alone. Slashing staff by six custodians, while maintaining the pace of production, is the sort of thing institutional shareholders would applaud if Agnes Scott were a for-profit entity. 

Agnes Scott is not a corporation. It is place of higher learning. It is an institution that encourages its students to “live honorably” and engage “in the intellectual, cultural and social issues of its times.” I share this vision with my alma mater. Since having graduated from Agnes Scott in 2000, I have devoted my life to social justice. In doing so, I have determined that social justice is inseparable from economic justice. This realization led me to my current field of study and occupation. I am finishing my master’s degree in labor studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst while working for a local labor union.  

As an Agnes Scott alumna, I often receive requests for contributions to the college’s annual fund. As a broke graduate student, I demurely decline. However my decision is not strictly a temporal function of time and money. It is difficult for me to prioritize charitable contributions to a college that boasts a $300 million dollar endowment. Instead, I earmark what little I can give to organizations with fewer resources that benefit populations in greater need. If Agnes Scott instituted a true living wage for all its staff, I would not have to pick between giving to my alma mater and organizations committed to social and economic justice.  

Agnes Scott College was established with the distinct mission “to educate women for the betterment of their families and the elevation of their region.” It is clear that the college’s founders believed in creating an educational institution that not only enriches the lives of its students but the lives of all those who support and nurture the college as well. The honorable men and women of who feed our faculty and students and clean our classrooms and dorms are intrinsic members of the Agnes Scott community. The college pledges its “commitment to a community that values justice.” I ask my college to be the change it wishes to see in the world. Value Justice: Provide Agnes Scott Staff with a Living Wage.

-Meredith Stepp, Class of 2001 Alum

Tina Pippin: Why I Support a Living Wage at ASC December 13, 2007

 

Living wage address at faculty meeting, 11 May 2007

The Ray of Light Fund has been and continues to be an important “charitable band aid” of mutual support in times of life emergencies.  Those of us on the Ray of Light steering committee appreciate the genuine concern and generous giving from the faculty and staff over the past few years.  But we are seeing increased need as the cost of housing, utilities and the basics of living rise.  Our goal in the Ray of Light Fund is to put our committee out of business–to make the fund obsolete.  And a living wage would help us reach this goal. 

The national campus sustainability movement includes three areas:  economic, environmental and social/cultural sustainability.  Living wage for all members of the Agnes Scott College community, from custodians and contract employees to Administration, is an important part of fulfilling the mission of the College “to think deeply, live honorably and engage the intellectual and social challenges of our times” and also “to be a just and inclusive community.”  At President Kiss’ request, the Living Wage Campaign at ASC developed proposals for the Strategic Plan that include not only just wages, but also democratized workplace and institutional respect across the boundaries of difference in race, social/economic class, gender, and educational privilege. 

The Living Wage Campaign is asking all of us to look deeper toward issues of systemic, institutional justice.  We believe that as long as we have a permanent underclass of low wage and poverty wage staff (full time and contract) that we will never rise to challenge of our mission statement, let alone the challenges of “global women’s leadership in the twenty-first century.”  In a recent interview in Journal of College and Character (Vol. VII/3, April 2007), Pres. Kiss sets the challenge, “I have a strong moral commitment to providing a living wage and to raising the salaries of those at the lower end of our salary scale.”  So we accept her challenge to “Stand Up, Speak Up” on this issue of economic justice.   

Just wages are only part of economic justice.  We are also calling for a reimagining of our social structure, the deeply embedded lines of race and class in the South.  Human dignity encompasses more than wages, but just wages are central to meeting “the intellectual and social challenges” of our times and basic human rights (UNDHR Article 25).  The main concern we’ve been hearing is the reality of balancing needs and what we can afford.  These concerns raise the questions of what our priorities are and who we are balancing against—whose lives are effected and how the well-being of all employees, especially long-term, low wage employees, fits into this balancing act.  This is dangerous work, as Ed Loring of the Open Door Community in Atlanta reminds us: “Dangerous is the act of reducing the distance.  We are forced to see what we have not seen, to hear what we have not heard.”  The Living Wage Campaign is about reducing the distance, going beyond simple courtesy to deeper knowledge and respect and full human dignity—through just wages, a fully-empowered Staff Senate, through valuing all skills and knowledges on this campus.  We appreciate Pres. Kiss’ willingness to hear.  And we are highlighting Kiss’ challenge to the whole campus today by asking the faculty to consider the ramifications of our institution paying poverty wages, and what anything less than full economic justice means for our College—and for each of us—in the future.

Tina Pippin
ASC Faculty
Member of the Living Wage Campaign at ASC

Della Spurley: Why I Support a Living Wage at ASC December 13, 2007

 

I support a lliving wage because as a custodian at Agnes Scott I see first hand  what the effects of not having one  has ment to me as well as my co-workers. I have been employed here for 42 years and my wages have finally got to $14.40(I still pay part of my health insurance). Most of the workers here are still not being paid to a level where they can afford to live with out working extra hours each week to help pay their bills. I will continue to support this campaign until that happens here and across the nation.

-Della Spurley
Staff Worker at ASC
Member of the ASC Living Wage Campaign

Why Do You Support a Living Wage at ASC? December 13, 2007

Send us why you support a living wage at ASC (as short or as long as you would like it to be) and we will post it on our blog and use it to recruit more folks to join the campaign.  We need people to understand why this issue is important, who’s supporting it, and why you feel passionate about it!  

Anyone can show their support for the LWC!

This will help us as we organize.  We can share these testimonials not only to help sway decision makers at ASC, but also to gain more community support for the campaign and help put more pressure on our alma mater to do the right thing.  It will also help to educate folks on the issue of economic justice and how it connects to other issues such as racial justice, women’s rights, etc… 

We will also post these testimonials, so check our blog!  Please add your name, location, ASC class year, and any other pertinent information you would like.  If you would like to remain annonymous, then please let us know.

Please send your “Why I Support a Living Wage at ASC” to ascalumsforalivingwage@gmail.com . 

PS:  help us get the word out by passing our blog along.