UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley announced plans to launch a student wage review Wednesday.
A committee of students, faculty and staff will be appointed to review and possibly recommend market-based increases to student hourly wage scales.
“In a time of rising tuition and difficult economic conditions, I care about student employees and believe in paying them as much as we are able,” Wiley said in Wednesday’s release.
Also invited to participate will be students appointed by the Associated Students of Madison, along with faculty and staff members.
UW-Madison senior and Student Labor Action Coalition member Ashok Kumar who fought for the committee, said he sees it faring well for the campus and its workers.
UW-Madison currently employs more than 7,000 student hourly workers with the wage scale having a minimum of $6.95 per hour and a maximum of $19.05, with an average hourly rate of $9.03. Eighty-five percent of these workers are undergraduate students. The “living wage,” designed for a full-time worker to be able to earn enough money to support a family, is defined by the city of Madison as $10.23 per hour.
“Students in part-time positions are primarily engaged in pursuing an education, not serving as a full-time support for a family,” Wiley said. “The living wage concept was never intended to be applied to student employees.”
But Kumar said he does not agree.
“At this university, students are second-class workers and the people are like, ‘They don’t have families,’ but there are so many costs of being a student,” Kumar said. “You have tuition; you’re taking out loans you’re going to have to pay for 25 years.”
UW-Madison sophomore Christine Heise, who has worked at Ed’s in Gordon Commons for a year and a half and makes $8.15 per hour, said she agrees a living wage would be ideal.
“I have to pay for my own tuition, my books, school, food and rent, I mean I have to pay for everything because my parents don’t have enough money to support me on their own,” Heise said. “It’s not like I’m working 40 hours a week, I go to school too. I use what I make to pay for what I need. It’s not frivolous spending money.”
Wiley said the committee’s review of student wage scales will apply to all student hourly employees, not just those in specified areas.
