CHICAGO—(ENEWSPF)—October 15, 2015. A coalition of undergraduates, graduate students, and adjunct professors will assemble on Friday, October 16 at 3 p.m. at the University of Chicago administration office, 5801 S. Ellis Ave. (quadrangle side of Levi Hall) to demand a living wage of at least $15 an hour for all university workers, including graduate students, and a union contract for non-tenure-track faculty.
Organizers say the current minimum wage on campus of $10 an hour is a poverty wage that doesn’t allow workers, including low-income students, to support themselves. Fair Budget UChicago will demand a meeting with University Provost Eric Isaacs, who has so far been unresponsive to our requests to meet, to discuss our concerns. Representatives from SEIU’s Faculty Forward, Graduate Students United, and the University’s Socioeconomic Diversity Alliance will speak at the rally in addition to low-income working students affected by the poverty wages paid on campus.
In the last five years, just five of the top administrators at the University of Chicago have received a total of $7 million in raises. Currently, the University doles out tens of millions of dollars in fees every year to the hedge funds that manage just part of its $7 billion dollar endowment. People are getting rich off of this university. Meanwhile, undergraduates, graduate students, adjuncts and other University workers are struggling to get by on poverty wages. If there is enough money for a massive new dorm, then there’s money to ensure that students and other workers earn enough for food and rent. Fair Budget UChicago will continue to pressure the administration until it agrees to pay all of its workers, including students, a living wage.
Follow the hashtag #FairPayUChicago for updates on Oct. 16.
Fair Budget UChicago is a campaign of Southside Solidarity Network (SSN), a chapter of the IIRON Student Network (ISN), a student power organization that fights for racial and economic justice at campuses across Chicago
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Source: Fair Budget UChicago
