Why a Living Wage Campaign at UT?
Because UT pays large numbers of its full-time, full-year, non-exempt/hourly workers less than poverty level wages. A poverty level wage is not, of course, a living wage. And UT ought to pay all its full-time, full-year employees a living wage. The sad fact, however, is that UT does not even pay poverty level wages to many of its non-exempt/hourly employees. UT has thirteen (13) pay grades for non-exempt/hourly employees. The starting annual salary for full-time, full-year workers in the first seven (7) pay grades is less than the federal poverty level for a family of four. Of course, workers don’t earn a starting salary forever. But, the average annual salary earned by workers in the first five (5) pay grades falls below the same federal poverty line. Because real wages for all UT non-exempt/hourly workers have steadily declined since 1975, in some cases declining by as much as 19.9%. Of all non-exempt/hourly employees, custodians and administrative aides experienced the smallest decl
