Mackenzie Clark
Editor in Chief
In an email sent to the student body on Thursday, Nov. 11, President Sarah Bolton provided updates on the meetings of the Board of Trustees, which took place Oct. 24-26, and addressed the recent work of the Living Wage Campaign (LWC). The LWC protest held before the meeting of the full Board of Trustees on Friday, Oct. 26 had approximately 200 students in attendance.
“Equitable compensation is an important issue, and one which we work on regularly and seriously,” stated Bolton in the email. She also stated that the College is invested in the long-term well-being of each member of the campus community and is committed to providing equitable compensation, which includes both wages and benefits, to all staff.
In response to Bolton’s email, Margaret McGuire ’20, co-president of the LWC, felt that Bolton neglected to comment on the LWC’s arguments for a living wage. “We seek to assure everyone that we are committed to a much more complex set of issues than just a higher minimum wage at the College,” stated McGuire. “Raising the minimum wage to a living wage has several far-reaching circumstances for the school, including increasing the size of the job applicant pool, slowing the turnover rate and improving staff morale and productivity.”
“It seems to me that the administration is trying to frame us as a group without a platform, because if they acknowledge our platform I don’t believe they can provide a sufficient argument against it,” said Robyn Newcomb ’20, co-president of the LWC. “If they can, I haven’t heard it yet.”
Bolton cited several actions that have taken place in the past three years that support the College’s commitment to equitable compensation. These include (1) instituting a tiered premium structure based on annual income for the College’s healthcare plan, which lowered premiums for more than 220 employees; (2) raising minimum wage by 22 percent in 2016; and (3) performing a campus-wide study of every staff position in 2017, reviewing the wage structure for campus equity and against the local wage environment and increasing the compensation of 170 employees with a commitment to additional increments in each of the next two years.
“Firstly, the College administration frequently cites ‘benefits’ as a perk that sets the College of Wooster compensation package apart from other local employers,” said McGuire. “We respond that you cannot pay for basic living necessities with benefits. People need money to pay their rent, utilities, food, etc, and many staff members cannot do this even with the benefits package.”
“Second,” continued McGuire, “President Bolton cites raising the wages in 2016 by 22 percent. This corresponds to raising the individuals who were paid the approximately $9 minimum up to $11. So 22 percent may sound like a lot, but it only corresponded to about a $2 increase to the lowest paid staff.”
“Our goal is, always, to offer a compensation package that will continue to attract and retain good people, and compensate them fairly, while working responsibly within the resources we have, which are not increasing,” stated Bolton. Regarding the recent fundraising of the Wooster’s Promise campaign, Bolton explained that the funds raised for that campaign were largely designated for specific purposes by the donors. “The campaign has made a great impact on campus, but it generally does not increase the funds we have to provide raises or to pay for salaries, benefits or other annual expenses,” Bolton continued in the email.
Bolton also stated that in the future, the College will continue to work with the Strategic Planning and Priorities Advisory Committee, which includes staff and faculty representatives, as well as student participants, and with the Staff Committee to consider options moving forward to help achieve the administration’s “shared goals with the Living Wage Campaign of equitable compensation for the great work our employees do.”
“In her closing remarks about forthcoming work President Bolton does not mention including the members of the Living Wage Campaign in discussions,” said McGuire. McGuire emphasized the LWC’s recent meetings with members of administration, advancement, finance and human resources looking for avenues forward after the demonstration.
“We have done an unfathomable amount of this school’s own work for them, and they have responded by attempting to ignore, trivialize and delegitimize us,” said Newcomb.
Newcomb also commented on the current climate of fear among hourly staff regarding speaking up for their concerns. “To my knowledge, the school is doing nothing to ameliorate the clearly existent fear of speaking up among our staff,” said Newcomb.
Newcomb noted that, when Bolton responded to her prior emails concerning the violation of staff’s right to dissent on Thursday, Nov. 1, the response email did not address the errors made or cite efforts to work toward a solution other than discussions within the Freedom of Expression Task Force.
“Just alluding to potential plans is not enough when so many people are terrified of raising their voices on an issue that directly impacts them. I have literally had friends on staff call me to tell me that I can’t talk to them at work anymore because they’re scared of getting caught talking to me. That is just utter insanity.”
“We have been absolutely flooded with staff expressing appreciation for the work we’re doing — although personally, we know that it’s us who should be appreciative for the crucial, difficult and valuable work that our staff are doing for such painfully little compensation,” said Newcomb, speaking to the conversations the LWC has had directly with staff in recent months. “We shouldn’t be patting ourselves on the back because staff are thanking us for listening to them and caring about them — that should have been the bare minimum all along. I hope deeply and urgently that we can live up to what our staff are hoping we can accomplish, but the most important part is that students are caring. As long as students care, this fight is never going away.”
“I think some people are viewing this, perhaps maybe especially on the school’s end, like we built up to this and we did the demonstration and now we’re going to wait a year to hear if they do anything about it, and that is absolutely not the case,” said Newcomb.
“I also want to impress upon the everyone that Living Wage Campaign also saw support through a petition with over 1,200 signatures from students, their families, alumni and faculty,” said McGuire.
The LWC has also immediately begun work on a letter writing campaign. They plan to send weekly letters from parents, staff, alumni and students to Chair of the Board Don Frederico and to Bolton. The LWC will also be adding new material each week, such as updated numbers in their cost analysis, photos of students holding signs and video interviews with members of the campus community.
A main goal moving forward for the LWC is to organize a public panel before the end of the fall semester featuring key administrators and decision makers from the College. “We’re constantly being deflected and told to look other places. I think it will be really helpful for all of the students looking for answers to have people in the same room answering them publicly,” said Newcomb.
On Monday, Nov. 5, the LWC recieved a follow-up from the Chair of the Board, Don Frederico expressing support, but confirming that decisions regarding future changes to wages are ultimately the president’s.
“We have a lot of attention right now and people are listening and actively waiting to hear more, so we’re going to keep giving people that,” said Newcomb.
“I think one thing we’re really trying to do this week, most of the problem is that people just don’t realize what the reality is on our campus,” Newcomb continued. “It’s a matter of consciousness. I think the more that people hear, the more they care, and the more they’re willing to do, and I think that’s what we’re really going to press on with, doing so much outreach and educating people about what’s going on, and trying to open up more channels for conversation, discussion and learning.”
“I want to spread information and answers to questions, while building community with each other and building momentum,” said Newcomb. “I think we’re making it extraordinarily clear that especially right now, urgently, this semester, this is still a conversation.”