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Demands, proposals & policies

Calculating a living wage | Non-wage benefits | Examples of living wage policies

So you've learned all about living wage calculations and the importance of non-wage benefits, and now you want to propose your demands to university administrators in a clear, concise document. Fortunately, you can take a look at living wage policies from past campaigns to get started and avoid repeating past mistakes! *REMEMBER: Your demands need to be based on what campus workers want. Before you're writing demands, build relationships with workers!

Johns Hopkins University

» Student-Labor Action Committee (SLAC)/Johns Hopkins University Agreement - This was the agreement that students won on March 16, 2000, after a sit-in in Garland Hall.
» Johns Hopkins Response to SLAC/JHUNITY Demands - Hopkins administrators argue with SLAC's demands point-by-point. This document could be very useful for new living wage groups who want to know what to expect from administrators.
» more on the campaign at Johns Hopkins

University of Notre Dame

» Living Wage Report - Students in CLAP (Campus Labor Action Project) drafted this report over the last several months and on March 8, 2006 presented it along with their demands to University President Father Jenkins.
» more on the Notre Dame campaign

University of Vermont

» Demands Letter - Letter from UVM students outlining their demands to the university.
- submitted February 2005

» UVM's Policy Proposal - This Policy Proposal was presented to President Fogel on April 3 at the students' "Dance-in for Livable Wages".
-submitted by Sam, smaron(at)uvm.edu, April 2006

» more on the UVM campaign

College of William & Mary

» Victory Statement from the Living Wage Campaign at CW&M on September 19, 2001. College President Sullivan increased wages for campus workers, alloted $2 million for staff training and committed to the continuation of the Committee on Employment Opportunity.

Univerisity of California San Diego

» Eight Demands of the UC Living Wage Coalition at UCSD - Demands to Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, including living wages for all campus workers, ensuring all workesr can organize a union by a card check, and more!
- submitted by Maki, maki.matsumura(at)gmail.com, January 2006

» more on the UCSD campaign

Washington U - St. Louis

» Final agreement letter to Student Woker Alliance - This agreement was won after the sit-in and hunger strike of spring 2005. The highlights of the agreement include membership in the WRC [Worker Rights Consortium] and a $1 million (implemented over two years) increase in wages and benefits for the lowest paid workers on campus. So far (with half the $1 million spent), this has meant a wage floor of $8.25, still well short of the St. Louis LW of approximately $10, but a marked improvement.
- submitted by Joe, josephhowardthomas(at)gmail.com, Jan 18 2006

» Code of Conduct for On-Campus Employees - After a rally on Friday, April 1, 2005, the Student Worker Alliance delivered this Code of Conduct to Chancellor Mark Wrighton and requested a response by the following Monday, April 4. When Chancellor Wrighton did not respond by Monday, students began their occupation of the admissions office!

» more on the Wash U campaign

University of Miami

» Requests for Change and Implementation of a Living Wage Policy - Demands of the UMiami group STAND - Students Toward A New Democracy. The first demand is for living wages, and the demands also include the right to organize and health care.
- submitted October 2005
» more on the UMiami campaign

Georgetown University

» Living Wage Policy Proposal - After students worked on this proposal for years with administrators, in March 2005 this was the final proposal given to administrators before students' and workers' deadline (before the hunger strike began). Pages 7-9 list the ten demands of the campaign.

» "Just Employment Policy" - The "Just Employment Policy" was won after a 9-day hunger strike in March 2005. This policy does not include card-check neutrality; we gave up on card-check after our administration caved-in to every single other demand of our coalition. Otherwise, the policy is pretty good -- it includes a raise to $13/hr by July 2005 and then increases to $14/hr by July 2007. Another victory is that these numbers will be indexed to the CPI, so the wages will rise with inflation. Whether the administration holds up it's end of this deal is yet to be seen: as of this posting, there are cleaning staff still making less than $10/hr despite the July 1st deadline for $13/hr. The fight is just beginning!
- submitted by diane, dlf3(at)georgetown.edu, Aug 7 2005

» Georgetown Living Wage Report - A report produced by the Georgetown Solidarity Committee in March 2003 calling on Georgetown University to immediately implement a campus living wage policy. The report discusses the economics and ethics of work and employment at Georgetown. The 10 Demands of the Living Wage campaign (see pages 7-9 of the Proposal) are based on this study.

» more on the Georgetown campaign

Please send links to existing living wage policies, along with comments/criticisms, to lwac(at)livingwageaction.org