According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human services, the poverty level is $10,830 for an individual and $14,470 for a person with one dependent. Virginia Tech hires a category of workers who are limited to 1,500 hours per year and earn $12,750 at the advertised starting wage of $8.50 an hour.
I contacted university spokesperson Mark Owczarski by e-mail and he wrote, "Currently, we have 652 wage employees in the '1,500 hour non-student wage' category. ... Of those, 31 make less than $8.50 per hour, 204 make $8.50 per hour, and 417 make more than $8.50 per hour."
Tech restricts hundreds of its workers to earn either slightly above or slightly below the poverty level, depending on whether a worker cares for a child.
Tech's human resources Web site states, "these positions are considered part-time and are currently not eligible for benefits." This means no maternity leave, sick days, holiday pay, health insurance, life insurance, vacation or pension. There has been a wage freeze for Virginia state employees since November 2007 that will continue until at least 2011.
In response to the question, "How many of these wage workers were fired last year?" Owczarski wrote, "None. By the nature of this job classification, these jobs are intended to be temporary in nature. People leave this employment because the job ends, not because they are fired."
The 1,500-hour limit results in a full-time job during the school year and months of no paychecks during the summer. Thanksgiving, spring break and Christmas are also a time of no pay for many "temporary" wage workers, who are often employed for years. During times when school is not in session, workers are unable to draw unemployment benefits under Virginia law (60.2-615) because employment at educational institutions is considered seasonal.
A single worker earning this little amount (and presuming a generous $3,000 in savings) is eligible for food stamps and energy aid, but not for Medicaid (low-income government health insurance) in Virginia. (For rare exceptions, see the Department of Medical Assistance Web site).
A worker with the same earnings who also cares for a child is eligible for food stamps, energy aid, children's health insurance, childcare and additional food. Statistics for the number of Tech workers who are beneficiaries of these programs are confidential.
In economic terms, paying workers so little that they are forced to seek external assistance to get by is called externalizing costs and is encouraged because it increases profits. But to pay state workers so little that they are forced to seek state aid is inefficient and often humiliating. The simple solution to this problem is to pay people a decent wage. (For people who criticize government aid, we should remember that the three-quarters of our undergraduates who pay in-state tuition are receiving it; the government subsidizes our tuition because education is seen as a good investment for society.)
On Dec. 18, 2008, President Steger sent a letter to the university about budget cuts. He wrote, "the scale of these reductions will require that we dig deeper, and it will be difficult." As part of the "natural introspection necessary for cost-cutting," he promised to "reduce, and in some cases eliminate, discretionary items, such as printing costs, travel and outside training. ... With your help, we will weather this also. And, as we do so, we will remain focused on our priorities."
According to the Collegiate Times public university salaries database, Steger will make $457,040 of state money this year. The government will pay President Barack Obama $400,000.
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My favorite part is "The simple solution to this problem is to pay people a decent wage." Can't believe nobody thought of that before this guy! Just raise the minimum wage to $20/hr or so and they'll be fine.
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If you increase wages for low level employees, tuition will increase as a result. Should the university put the students or its employees first?
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If they can't live off of the wage from VT, they should get a second job. Don't be fooled by the poverty line numbers. You can live off of 8.50/hr. You just have to make sacrifices.
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It is amazing the audacity Steger has to do all that while raising our tuition. Don't forget the massive makeover DX got this summer. 2 plasma TVs??? It's DX, not a NYC bar. Use the money for academics or give it back to us.
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I think some people actually want only a part time job...
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not everyone can be a winner in the game of life. maybe once burke becomes a university president he can make the university more fair.
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Who cares if the people apply from government aid, or if the government just pays them more upfront? It all comes from the same place. I like what James said...just make the minimum wage $20 an hour. We just raised it to $7.50 or something, but why stop there. That is such a great idea make it $20/hr, or even $100/hr. It just gets better and better.
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yup. Either way the gov will hook them up with other peoples money. They should just start a program for unemployed people and have them do something. I don't care what it is but at least allow them to earn unemployment benefits. Roads need lines painted, trash needs picked up, hell they can flip over rocks so they get an equal amount of sun. They could be a part of the govt Area Beautification Task Force to make it official sounding. Receiving money in exchange for doing nothing is a shame. I bet most people would rather at least do something to receive the money rather than take it without doing anything for it
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burke has a promising career in community organizing down the road
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Burke, you make it sound like the entirety of Steger's job is to hold down the President's chair and make sure the office is occupied - and you couldn't be further from the truth. The President of the university is, among other things, its chief liaison with the general assembly and the governor - part of his job is to lobby on behalf of his students, staff, faculty, and higher education in general to ensure that all those various interests are appropriately represented. His trips to Richmond aren't junkits - they are his professional responsibility.
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Also, I might ask you whether or not you consider 'having a job' to be a right inherent to being alive - akin to the abstract rights life, liberty, and the less abstract property. Am I entitled to have someone else pay me to do a job, simply because I want to be paid to do a job? I'd contend that the answer is a resounding "no." Jobs exist because people want stuff that they either don't have the resources or don't have the ability to make themselves. Jobs most definitely do NOT exist to 'give people something to do so that they can afford to be alive.' Ultimately, a prospective worker determines the value of his own labors - and at that point he negotiates with a potential employer to ensure that he gets what he feels he is entitled to. Sometimes that's more than what the employer offers - and so the employee has to decide whether or not he feels ok working for less value in exchange for having a job in the first place. By the way, raising the minimum wage has the direct effect of pricing low-skill workers out of the market. Think about it - why would I pay 8 employees $10 an hour to do $60 worth of work, when I could pay 6 employees the same amount? You just choose your workers better - and this leaves the 'highly unskilled' priced out of the market.
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Excellent piece. In strapped businesses all around the country, highly paid executives are taking pay cuts. It's time for the highly paid top administration of VT to tighten their belts a bit just like everyone else. 5% or 10% pay cuts for Steger, his fat-cat VPs, the Athletic Director, etc. are called for in this drastic economic situation.
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Good article. Not sure what is up with Minor....Stegar really needs $457,040 per year of state funds. eye roll.
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"What's up with Minor" is that not everyone has the talent, skill, knowledge, experience, fortitude, and desire required to head a rapidly-growing institution of higher learning and research. The point is that you can't look at anyone's salary from 'an abstract lens,' as though there were some 'ideal salary' which everyone ought to earn. Why is $457,040 too much for Steger to earn? And why is $8.50 per hour too little for hourly earners to make? Check your class envy at the door and take a look at the differences in responsibilities, time spent performing official duties, and the nature of those duties, and you'll understand why it makes sense for CEOs, University Presidents, and the like to make more than Joe Student cranking out pizzas as Sbarro. All jobs were not created equal.
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