Ten Demands of the Georgetown Living Wage Coalition

For more information, go to www.georgetownlivingwage.org.

1. Guarantee all working members of the Georgetown community a living wage.
   This includes individuals directly hired by Georgetown University, as well as employees of subcontracted companies and all other workers otherwise affiliated with the university. As of January 2005, this would be $14.93 per hour. Currently the university has only committed to paying full-time workers $8.50 an hour. This is a poverty wage in Washington, D.C.
   
2. Adjust the living wage annually.
   The living wage must be adjusted each year to reflect the cost of food, housing, child care, health care, transportation, utilities and education in the Washington, D.C. area.
   
3. Guarantee wage parity.
   Wage parity (equal pay) must be guaranteed for all working members of the Georgetown community who perform equivalent duties, regardless of employer. At present, subcontracted workers are paid significantly less than those directly hired by the university, although their work is virtually identical.
   
4. Provide access to appropriate resources.
   Georgetown University should provide all working members of the Georgetown community access to affordable health care, child care, job training, English as a second language instruction and other campus resources, including access to and use of the Lauinger Library, Yates Fieldhouse and other university facilities.
   
5. Create fair working conditions and grievance procedures.
   Everyone in the Georgetown community has the right to a safe and harassment-free environment. Workers must be guaranteed access to appropriate grievance procedures if their rights are violated.
   
6. Commit to a sustainable workforce.
   Georgetown must actively offer full-time employment to qualified workers in a fair and equitable manner. One full-time worker is preferable to two part-time workers doing the same job because a strong community is built by those who care about it and share sustained personal investment in it.
   
7. Protect job security.
   In implementing the living-wage policy and in any and all subsequent organizational changes, no jobs, wages or union status (including contracts and/or recognition) should be eliminated or diminished as a result of said changes. The university has a responsibility to all working members of the community, and if subcontractors prefer to disengage from the university rather than respect a commitment to social justice, the university has an obligation to employ any workers who consequently lose their jobs.
   
8. Respect workers’ freedom to form unions.
   All working members of the Georgetown community must be guaranteed the right to freely associate and organize. Georgetown University and other campus employers must remain neutral and not interfere in organizing or union matters. Union organizers should be able to meet with any and all workers (on nonworking time) without employees fearing for their job security.
   
9. Implement the living wage.
   Georgetown University should revise all existing contracts to reflect and include the living-wage policy before they are renewed. The university and all subcontractors should adjust and pay all wage increases retroactive to the date of the adoption of the living-wage policy. All new contracts must reflect and include the policy.
   
10. Disclosure
    The university and subcontracted employers must disclose the pertinent economic details regarding the living-wage policy for the sake of effective implementation. Without open dialogue and transparency of policy between the university administration and the campus community as a whole, a university that respects the value of democracy will have no mechanism by which to evaluate the effectiveness of this or any policy.

Workers, students, faculty, clergy and community groups have been working together for years at Georgetown University to pressure the administration to do the right thing and pay a living wage to all employees. Currently Georgetown’s subcontracted employees are paid as little as $8.50 an hour with no access to a health care plan. This is not enough to live on in Washington, D.C., and the low wages force many workers to take on second and third jobs. On March 15, more than 20 twenty students began a hunger strike to demand a living wage for workers.

One worker describes her typical day like this:

I get to work at 10:30 p.m., and I get out at 7:30 a.m. I go home as soon as I can so that I can sleep. Most days I can sleep until the afternoon, maybe until 2 p.m. But sometimes I have to run errands, and I can’t sleep that much. I have to get up in the early afternoon so that I can cook for my son, but I have to leave at 5 p.m. to go to my second job. My son also has to work two jobs, and I hardly see him. He gets home at 4 p.m. and I have to leave for work at 5. I wish I could see him more, but we both have to work.

 The university does not understand the urgency of this situation—but maybe it will understand the urgency created by students on a hunger strike. This situation cannot continue; Georgetown employees deserve better. Everyone who works at Georgetown for 40 hours a week deserves to be paid enough to live in Washington, D.C. Georgetown needs to agree to pay a living wage NOW.