By now the effort to organize an undergraduate student workers union at Clark is public. Hoping to create a better understanding of why this is happening, I will share some reasons why I support the effort.
Since the Fall semester of 2023, I have held a position in the Clark University Facilities Management Grounds Department. We are the people who drive around in loud carts and wake you up in the morning to collect trash from campus buildings. This job is my only source of income. I rely on it to pay for rent, groceries, utility bills, and medical expenses.
Student workers in the Grounds Department have the privilege of getting a good number of weekly hours (up to 20), but we get paid $15 an hour for work, far below the market rate. Student workers in other campus departments are not so lucky. They receive only a handful of hours a week.
A long time before the organization effort started, I had some issues with my job, but I figured there was nothing I could do about it. At the time, I left the issue alone. When I first got in contact with the Teamsters Union organizers they explained that all of these issues I had could be easily solved. They assert that the University chooses to ignore them under the notion that the University has no money. I think that is a blatant lie.
According to a report from ProPublica’s nonprofit explorer tool, Clark University President David Fithian made $989,534 in salary in 2023 plus an additional $103,042 bonus. In the same year, the University raised $30 million in alumni donations.
All this money, yet we cannot afford new tires for the carts we have to drive in the snow? We are not issued jackets for the winter despite having to work in sub-zero temperatures and get called into work even if classes are canceled for the day.
Fellow employees, who shall remain nameless for their protection, have been injured on the job and had to pay for their own medical expenses because Clark does not provide us with worker’s compensation.
Another employee had been making $14.50 an hour, which is under minimum wage, with no explanation. These are just some of the issues student workers in my department face.
The effort to organize the undergraduate workers will help all student workers at Clark. In unity, we have power. Even if you do not have a job, I can assure you this effort still does affect someone you care about or know.
Clark pretends they are doing us a favor by offering us employment, but I think that is another lie.
Our campus relies on student workers to function, think of the walk you take from your dorm to the dining hall. You will leave the building, pass by your RA, then you may see grounds employees picking up trash, you will pass by academic buildings which all have different departments run by student office workers, upon entering UC the mailroom staff sits above your head organizing mail, and the information desk workers sit ready to answer questions, all of which are undergraduate student employees.
Yet, our labor is being exploited for cheap wages and the threat of your department being erased without warning looms over. We all deserve adequate wages for our work, security in employment, and overall safety. Clark is more than able to provide this for their students, but they choose to funnel funding into new properties to expand the university in the coming decades, rather than listening to the needs of their current students.