rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/usm-workers-need-a-living-wage?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-usm-workers-need-a-living-wage' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> CWA Local 3565 https://actionnetwork.org/groups/united-campus-workers-of-mississippi-cwa-local-3565 https://actionnetwork.org//images/generic_facebook.jpg A full time job should keep you out of poverty--not in it. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the salary for a "modest yet adequate standard of living" for a single-parent household in Forrest County is $49,951, or $25 an hour. However, hundreds of full-time employees and graduate workers at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) earn less than an adequate standard of living pay. For example, custodial staff are currently paid less than $12 an hour, and some annual graduate stipends are only $8,200. Not only does USM pay poverty wages that no one can afford to live on adequately, but they also provide infrequent and scant raises. As a result, our graduate students are struggling, and employees with years of service make less than when they started due to the skyrocketing cost of living. https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/usm-workers-need-a-living-wage