On Tuesday, October 1, tables in the Spa were completely filled with student workers from a variety of interests, majors, and backgrounds to discuss the issue of student minimum wage.
Pack the Senate, which was highly advertised on social media and live-streamed for students who couldn’t make it, included Student Government Association’s (SGA’s) first approved resolution of this academic year. The resolution of support for an increase in student minimum wage for workers at the College was passed with approval from 24 senators and three abstains.
Ben Hayes ’20, Gabe Feldman-Schwartz ’22, and Powel Kazanjian’21 presented on behalf of the minimum wage grassroot campaign. The executive committee of SGA has also been involved in the process, as Malchijah Hoskins’22, Vice President (VP) for Inclusion and diversity, and Riley Filister’21, VP for academic affairs, shared the stage to answer questions from the crowd.
Students listening to the presentation regarding minimum wage at the senate meeting, credits to Peter Sigward
Feldman-Schwartz said in a follow-up comment to The Skidmore News that the campaign was born out of the collective action club, which focuses on political activism on campus. Adia Cullers ’21 had mentioned discussing student labor conditions and “minimum wage felt like a glaring thing that have been normalized,” Feldman-Schwartz said. He continued, “Money means a lot for the students, and our labor is worth what New York State deems minimum wage.”
The momentum for the movement has grown significantly over the course of the last semester and its goal to raise the student minimum wage, currently at $9.75 to the New York State minimum wage of $11.10. The raise will also account for the pre-existing wage brackets, based on skills levels, currently at $9.75, $10, $10.30, which will change accordingly.
Hayes reflected on the 2015 grassroots campaign, which led to the increase of the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8, the then New York State minimum wage. Feldman-Schwartz also pointed out that there was an agreement that the student minimum wage would increase along with the NY state minimum wage, which has not been the case in the last couple of years.
By taking into consideration inflation levels since 2014, currently at 8.37 percent, even the highest paid level student job currently at Skidmore is being paid less than its counterpart in 2014.
A provision under the Federal Fair Standards Labor Act allows Skidmore and other institutions of higher education are to pay their student workers less than the state minimum wage under the category of subminimum wage.
Hayes mentioned that the movement is planning to follow similar steps to the 2015 campaign with taking into consideration January 2020 as the tentative date. This year’s campaign goal is to also codify the resolution in the Student Handbook, ensuring future accountability.
A student asking a question in senate, credits to Peter Sigward
Members of the student body, along with senators, addressed their concerns regarding the impact that raising the wages might have on key aspects of the college, such as financial aid. Hayes clarified that members of the administration have confirmed that increasing minimum wage will not impact financial aid. In 2015, the raise initially came from the contingency fund and was later worked into the operational cost budget.
Although the immediate goal of the minimum wage grassroots campaign is to increase student wages, the presenters insisted that this is only the first step of a wider initiative. Moving forward, they mentioned that they are aiming to create a committee under SGA that would deal with labor relations and determine its conditions, as well as a club where students can communicate with SGA directly and discuss these issues.
VP for Financial Affairs Abigail Ciccarone ’20 mentioned to The Skidmore News that she abstained from the vote because of a conflict of interest as the only student representative on IPPC for Budget and Finance. However, she mentioned that she will continue to support the movement.
SGA president David Robakdize said to The Skidmore News that he is excited about the upcoming open forums where students will have an opportunity to voice their concerns to the College’s administration. He says, “By the end of the month we will have a more tangible thing to talk about.”
The Skidmore News reached out to Dean Cerri Banks, but she failed to respond before the publication of this article.
If you are a student worker interested in contributing to this effort, the minimum wage movement will have a meeting on Thursday October 10 in Bolton 282 to discuss the upcoming open forums with the Skidmore administration.
The open forums are going to be held on October15 and October 28 at 7:00 -8:30 pm in the Spa in Case Student Center.