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Boston City Council to Harvard: Give your food-service workers a decent contract
By adamg on Wed, 10/19/2016 - 1:25pm
The city council today urged Harvard University to give its food-services workers the $35,000 minimum salary that is one of the issues in the workers' current strike.
"Shame on you Harvard for raising $7 billion for your endowment and now you're endowment is $37 billion ... and you can't take care of your workers," Councilor Tito Jackson (Roxbury) said.
"Please stop studying poverty and take your rightful leadership place in doing something to prevent it," Councilor Ayannna Pressley (at large) said.
"[The salary request] is one one-millionth of Harvard's endowment," Councilor Josh Zakim (Back Bay, Beacon Hill, Fenway, Mission Hill) said. "They do a lot of good work, but they're not doing a lot of good today."
Council President Michelle Wu, who proposed the resolution, went to Harvard as an undergraduate and for law school. She aid she learned first hand the importance of food-service workers there. "They truly become your family away from home," she recalled.
Councilor Michael Flaherty (at large) added, "I wouldn't go to Harvard if I got in for free," because of the way it's treated its workers and the neighborhoods of Allston and Brighton.
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Comments
Disgraceful
Is it just me or is the council way overstepping their bounds by commenting on this issue?
Why not?
At least some of the workers are their constituents, it's not binding and they've issued resolutions on other local (and even national) issues before.
Shouldn't the City Council Address Its Own Low Salaries First?
I'm not exactly sure how the City Council has any moral authority to demand a minimum salary of $35,000 for Harvard Dining Services workers given that there are several positions on the city's own career site which pay well under $35,000/year and require the employee to work 12 months/year rather than the 9 months for Harvard's dining hall staff. Not to mention that some of the positions require the applicant to pass a criminal background check:
https://careercenter-boston.icims.com/jobs/search?pr=0&searchRelation=ke...
nah its just u
and like the 5 other people on uhub that get really mad when somebody wants a living wage
and also gets mad when people that cant make living wages take advantage of things like SNAP lmao
i wonder what the overlap is with those people and the people that blame the parents of children for BEING OUT TO LATE when they get shot in drive bys
the venn diagram looks like a pizza i assume
Fresh pay
I totally agree. Times are tough and the cost of living is causing a decline in the quality of life for folks. But Harvard should really come to amicable terms with these folks. Rather than toot its own flute with a study on an issue that can't easily be marginalized..
A living wage is all well and
A living wage is all well and good its all too predictable what will happen next. Tuition and room and board costs increase, students complain/protest rising costs, nothing happens, more and more government backed(aka tax payer) student loans get issued...
Tuition is not determined by cost to provide education
It's determined by size of federal loans available.
The extra money then goes towards posh housing and gyms and amenities to attract pampered kids. And to creating more Assistant Executive VP of BS positions. While tenure is eliminated, and many classes taught by adjuncts making about the same money as a cafeteria worker, if they're lucky.
Look into your Economics heart. You know the undesirable effects to be true.
How is this even an issue
Pay your workers a living wage!
Nope
Even more so when you realize they have constituents on welfare and public assistance because places like Harvard are leveraging taxpayers programs to pay them dirt shit, while making bank on the other hand.
Don't like welfare? Demand large businesses stop stashing all that cash and pay a fair wage. It's time to stop subsidizing their cheap labor for a litany of reasons.
Wages
It's notable that Harvard pays $22/hr which is much higher than what most Boston area food service jobs pay. The only difference is that Harvard doesn't employ over the summer/breaks so the workers are out of a paycheck. So by Harvard alone their yearly income is closer to ~$33k, although they do have more time to pickup additional work.
The "summers off" is pretty common among colleges. At other Universities the workers are hired by a 3rd party company who lays them off during the summer so they can collect unemployment. At Harvard they are "real" employees so they can't claim public benefits like other at other schools.
I don't know where I stand with regard to this dispute -- there are valid arguments on both sides. The details are complex. If you go by hourly wage alone, $22/hr is above what most consider a living wage in Boston.
yes
if you ignore the reality of their annual salary, it looks easier to survive off their pay i agree
Oh?
Would you feel better if they were paid $35,001 annually ($16.80/hr), asked for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, and not given any of the other benefits that Harvard provides?
no
i dont think that people should have zero vacation and no benefits, i think they should have a livable wage, with benefits to sustain themselves and their families.
my family and our companies have been employing people for dozens of years. we have a lot less money than harvard. they all have vacation, benefits, and get paid very well.
Hmmm
When I worked for Food Services at UMass, they employed their full time employees year round. When students were away, it was time to clean everything from top to bottom, work on restocking, and getting things ready for the next fall. They also didn't close down 100%, since there were still summer classes and other programs happening on campus.
Still wages are wages and we are in one of the most successful and priciest metro areas in the country. Unless we want to vastly expand welfare, we need companies to pass on their success to their employees.
Staffing levels
I'm only going with what's been reported in the news which is that Harvard is unique in that they employ more full-time adults instead of work-study students the way most schools do. While some full-time employees work the summer for the reasons you describe, there isn't a need for the same level of staffing year-round.
It seems Harvard could do better by reclassifying more jobs as 9 month positions to make it easier for these people to find steady employment for the other 3 months.
It's interesting, if true.
It's interesting, if true. They must have the same rule as applies to teachers -- if they have a guarantee of future employment, they aren't eligible for UI.
Seems odd, though I guess it's considered part of the employment arrangement. It's a seasonal layoff, which is covered in other unemployment situations.
I tried looking at the Mass UI page for info, but it wasn't very useful, but didn't say they were ineligible.
Aren't these the same people
Aren't these the same people who recently voted themselves a raise? And you wonder why people are so sick of politicians that they'll vote for a buffoon like Trump.
Not all
1/3 of the councilors voted against their own pay raise, notably Michelle Wu and Ayanna Pressley.
Source: http://dailyfreepress.com/2015/11/03/city-council-votes-9-4-for-salary-r...
Endowments
I guess we can add the Boston City Council to the list of people who don't know how endowments work
The endowment cannot be "spent"
Saying that anything is "one one-millionth of Harvard's endowment," is a pointless statistic and used only as a device to garnish contempt. Harvard cannot spend from the endowment. They are a non-profit and all spending for infrastructure, staff, faculty, operations, and facilities must come from the return on the endowment's investment. It must be balanced, like any other budget.
This is not to say that the Union is wrong to demand higher wages but that the argument given by the city council and repeated here is unsound.
Is that necessarily true?
As it's in the endowment docs? I manage "endowment like money" and some trusts and putting that restriction on disbursements is downright moronic. Cash flow management becomes almost impossible. Plus I believe most funds like this have to distribute a minimum 4% or so just to meet tax regulations even if the fund only returns 2% or even negative.
What a douchebag Flaherty is
"I wouldn't go to Harvard for free?" FOH! I think they're douches too, but I'm not looking that gift horse in the mouth.
Flaherty?
Where did he go to school (I'm too lazy to look it up. It my money is on Suffolk), and what does his alma mater pay its workers?
HUDS STRIKE
Hi I'm one of the workers on strike.. something has to give because a lot of my fellow union members are getting tired saying that they will go back to work... everyone is saying that they are behind us and don't get me wrong we appreciate it.. but nothing is changing.. we need help.... Harvard isn't budging.. thank you