Wall Street isn’t the only place dealing with economic woes. Workers of the University of Victoria Student Society’s student union building are demanding higher wages, and they’ll stay on strike until they get it. Union employees, numbering 150, have been picketing since the beginning of the semester, asking for a $1.50 increase for minimum wage earners. Classes are not affected.
At U Vic, the lowest paid employees start at $9.95 per hour.
The UVSS board had offered a 30-cent wage increase, but it wasn’t enough, especially when workers’ collective agreement is up for negotiation. If accepted, the wage increase would cost the student union $300,000 over the course of two years. The head of the union’s bargaining unit, Micheal Ryan, considers that small change. He reportedly told U Vic’s campus newspaper the Martlet that “it seems like a lot of money, but we haven’t had a substantial raise in such a long time that we’re just catching up to where we should be now.”
The UVSS board had managed so far to consolidate its past deficit. Now, the board claims that there is simply not enough money to satisfy both campus needs and the wage demands proposed by striking workers. “We want fair jobs and fair wages, but we also need to keep the SUB running in a sustainable way,” board chair Caitlin Meggs told the Martlet.
“We can’t increase the wage without cutting that money out somewhere else. It’s not possible,” said Meggs. “Maybe we would have to raise prices to pay the workers more. That wouldn’t be very fair to the rest of students. So, it’s tricky.”
The UVSS made a new offer Friday that would see most workers get a $1 raise, but that has also been turned down.
