Mr. Strine,\nI would like to respond to the email you sent to the University community on the evening of Feb. 29 attempting to reaffirm the University's "continued commitment to improving salaries for all University employees."
Firstly, you note, "Resources that fund our core missions are more constrained than ever." I understand that the University has many obligations, and a finite amount of resources. I do not envy the difficult decisions you and the Board of Visitors must make regarding how to allocate funding. The "difficult position" you find yourselves in, however, in no way vitiates the moral claim that University employees have upon University resources. Resources are always limited - this is a perennial fact of history. It is, in fact, because of this that budgets are inherently moral documents: They accurately reveal our priorities. Currently, University budgets reveal a deplorable lack of respect for its lowest paid, full-time employees.
Secondly, you write that "we will begin to gather information on key contracting and trends, which will help us better manage and communicate to the Board of Visitors regarding our reliance on contracted partners." I commend this step, if by "on key contracting and trends" you mean to indicate that the University will gather and publicize information regarding compensation and benefits paid to employees of contracted partners such as Aramark. In the past, the University has refused to take responsibility for the wages paid by its contracted partners. The University, however, directs contract hiring rates by setting a policy of lowest-bid contracting, with no wage floor. It is misleading to defend this state of affairs as unavoidable. As the example of the City of Charlottesville has demonstrated, public entities in Virginia can require that contracted work carried out on its behalf be compensated at - or above - the rate which it has set for its direct employees.
Are indirectly contracted employees not a valuable part of the University community? Even recently, the administration's choice to downplay mention of these employees in public statements on compensation demonstrates a lamentable failure to recognize the integral contribution which these workers make to University life. In light of this, I appreciate what appears to be a move toward transparency, and I urge you to move quickly to gather the necessary information and report upon the labor conditions of these employees.
Finally, you write that "we listen to and are considerate of others, especially those affected by our decisions." I applaud this aspiration. Unfortunately, it appears the University has not listened enough - at least not yet. It cannot have escaped the administration's attention that many University employees struggle to live on the insufficient wages provided by the University's contracted partners. Indeed, the Living Wage Campaign at the University has spent the last 14 years announcing the moral urgency of this situation and petitioning for improved working conditions and compensation. The campaign's hunger strike was an attempt to publicize the University's shameful refusal to respond appropriately to these requests. Why has the University administration remained inactive in response to the campaign's requests for genuine negotiation?
Mr. Strine, consideration alone is not enough to create the caring community President Sullivan envisions. Without action, listening becomes patronizing. Please act now to improve compensation for the University's lowest-paid employees. I ask you this as a graduate student of this university and as a resident of Charlottesville's historic Fifeville neighborhood on Prospect Avenue, where many University employees live. More importantly, I ask you this as a person of the Christian faith. Matthew 25:40 records the words of Jesus thus: "Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." It seems obvious to me that the poorly compensated, full-time employees at the University are our brothers and sisters, even if they are often treated as the least among us.
Please do more than listen and consider. Please do everything you can to institute a living wage at this University.
Christina McRorie is a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
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