Workers: UNC can do more

In 2003, UNC’s summer reading selection of a book on low-wage workers in America sparked debate about UNC’s own underpaid employees.

Two years after students discussed “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America,” the University created the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity to find innovative ways to bump impoverished Americans into the middle class.

Despite these very public efforts on UNC’s part to raise consciousness of poverty, workers still say the University overlooks many of its employees who fall beneath the national poverty level.

“If we’re going to study something, we need to start with studying people right here on campus,” said Tommy Griffin, chairman of the Employee Forum. “It’s a good place to start.”

The federal poverty level for a family of four is $19,350, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That number is calculated each year by multiplying the cost of food by the number family members and adjusting for inflation.

UNC employs 89 workers earning salaries below $20,000, said Laurie Charest, associate vice chancellor for human resources. Though employment totals fluctuate, UNC records from last fall indicate that 6,326 workers — or about 58 percent of UNC’s workforce — are state employees.

If this number still stands, about 1.4 percent of UNC’s employees hover near the poverty line.

“It’s time for the state of North Carolina to step up and start paying above-poverty wages,” Griffin said. “People are having to struggle a terrible amount. We have employees working for poverty wages and working two jobs just to survive.”

A variety of state employees, including housekeepers and grounds keepers, fit into pay grades that can fall below the poverty level for a family of four. Housekeepers’ salaries range between $18,692 and $22,611, putting them in the lowest possible pay bracket. Grounds keepers make between $19,418 and $28,278 along with workers including cooks and low-level nursing assistants.

Griffin said the new poverty center is a minor victory in the fight to publicize the challenges some workers face, but it’s not enough. Forum members sent a letter April 6 inviting the center to study the plight of UNC’s low-paid workers. They have yet to receive a response.

Former senator and presidential candidate John Edwards, who is heading up the center, could not be reached for comment.

“We could do a lot with the center to make them aware of things here at the University,” said Katherine Graves, a forum delegate and former vice chairwoman.

Provost Robert Shelton said UNC wants to pay its workers as much as possible, but salaries are in the hands of the state’s legislators.

“We’re in an era when people don’t want to pay taxes for the common good,” Shelton said. “We at the University are a common good.”

Last year, the Employee Forum asked for a $2,000 across-the-board salary increase, which workers were not granted.

But the legislature did raise UNC employees’ wages either $1,000 or 2.5 percent, whichever was greater.

Griffin highlighted a bill in the state House that would increase the minimum salary for all state employees from $18,692 to $20,212.

UNC’s minimum salary for workers falls into line with those paid at the public universities considered to be UNC’s peers. State employees at the University of Virginia make a minimum of $17,929.60, while the minimum salary for state workers at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor is $20,500.

Graves said UNC needs to recognize the value of its employees.

“People need to remember that we’re the people who keep the lights going, the heat going,” Graves said. “This state is like a quilt, and the state employees are the stitches that keep the state together.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.