This May 1, members of United Campus Workers of Mississippi (UCW-MS), a union representing faculty, students and staff across the state, are delivering petitions to university administrators demanding a living wage. Why would workers, especially those who so clearly serve the public good, be paid any less than a living wage? Like any social issue the truth is complicated. But one reason is that the state, like any other employer, pays low wages because it can.
For too long, campus workers have taken the offer of employment as if it were an act of charity, grateful to have a job at all. To be sure, we need our jobs to live. But universities and the State more generally can’t do without our labor. Now, workers often divided by job classification — faculty on and off the tenure track, staff, student workers — are coming together to realize strength in numbers. Members of UCW-MS have focused our efforts over the past year on garnering support for our living wage campaign. By April, over 500 workers, students and community members had put their names to the petition at Mississippi State University. Similar figures have been reached at the University of Mississippi and the University of Southern Mississippi. In sending a clear message to our administrators that we deserve more, we expect them to redouble efforts in the state capitol to secure additional funds to support a living wage for all campus employees.
Union members here, as anywhere, know that we face an uphill struggle. Yet support for unions in the United States is on the rise, even in the traditionally anti-union South. Last week, over two thousand autoworkers at the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to unionize with United Auto Workers. Membership of UCW-MS is growing and part of a broader university unionization movement in the Southeast and nation more broadly. This May 1, faculty, staff and students in Mississippi will join workers around the world who share the conviction that the path to dignity at work lies in collective action. The road is long, but basic justice requires that the state ensure that all whose labor is essential to the operations of our beloved state institutions receive enough income to meet their basic needs. Hopefully one day this principle will be universally acknowledged. Until then, campus workers of Mississippi will continue to fight for what we deserve.
James Chamberlain
Josh Dohmen
Zach Dykema
Patricia McCourt
United Campus Workers, Mississippi State University Organizing Committee
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 35 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.