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The Profession
Symposium: Higher Education in the Knowledge Economy: Politics and Policies of Transformation
In July 2015, the University of California (UC) President Janet Napolitano announced that the university would raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour for all employees and subcontractors working at least 20 hours per week. UC's "Fair Wage/Fair Work" plan is the first $15 hourly wage standard at a public university in the United States, and the national Fight for $15 minimum wage campaign has lauded this victory as an historic step forward for workers.
The more immediate backdrop for Napolitano's "Fair Wage/Fair Work" policy, however, was a campaign by my union at the UC Berkeley flagship campus to insource nearly 100 low-wage subcontracted workers. Known as AFSCME 3299, our union--UC's largest--had launched a "speakers boycott." The boycott called for all invited speakers--including former US President Clinton--to refuse to give speeches on campus until the university directly hired the custodians and parking attendants who had been outsourced. These workers performed the same labor as UC employees but for far less pay and minimal or no benefits from their subcontractor-employers. With the help of student and faculty solidarity, our union eventually won the campaign to bring UC Berkeley's subcontracted workers in-house. The victory provides a path out of poverty for these workers by securing benefits, job security, and wages above the new UC $15 minimum wage.
At the same time, however, President...