Living Wage for UofM Workers!

David Rudd, President, University of Memphis

Just months ago, the University of Memphis honored the sanitation workers who in 1968 fought for justice in the name of a clear moral principle: a full-time job should keep you out of poverty, not in it. Yet approx. 350 full-time University of Memphis staff – some with decades of service – earn less than $15 per hour.

No member of the Tiger Family should struggle to make ends meet or be forced to work a second job just to stay afloat. If Shelby County Schools and the Shelby County Government can raise their pay floor to $15/hr, so can the largest public university in West Tennessee!

Income inequality at the University of Memphis, the data shows, is not only alarming; it also functions as a form of racial and gender discrimination. As of 2017, African Americans account for 30%, and women for 55%, of the university workforce. And yet almost 3 out of 4 African Americans, and 2 out of 3 women are paid under $15 per hour. What kind of a message does this send?

Publicly-available documentation shows that with an allocation of around $2 million -- less than the total of the highest paid 7 university employees -- everyone under $15 could be raised to that amount. This is what it will it take to close the gap.

Join university workers in asking that President Rudd and the Board of Trustees pay workers a living wage! Let's be driven by doing what's morally right and raise people to the standards that administrators enjoy everyday.

To: David Rudd, President, University of Memphis
From: [Your Name]

We call on you to work with the Board of Trustees to raise the university-mandated minimum of $10.60 to a living wage of $15 per hour for all full-time employees at the University of Memphis bring them in line with both Shelby County Schools and Memphis City public employees.

As faculty, staff, students, alumni and community members we believe a full-time job should keep you out of poverty, not in it. Close to 350 full-time University of Memphis staff – some with decades of service – earn less than $15 per hour. They deserve more than a $.50 per hour increase if they are to make a better life for themselves and their families.

Our request is simple and honors the mission of this institution. We demand: (1) The University follow the lead of Shelby County Schools and The City of Memphis to identify funding that can raise the base pay to $15/hr, (2) Follow through with those raises for the fiscal year 2019-2020, and (3) develop a plan to address the troubling use of temp labor, which serves to drive down wages for all permanent staff.