Stanford President Commits to Living Wage

STANFORD PRESIDENT JOHN HENNESSY COMMITS TO LIVING WAGE
Hospital Amends Contract with Subcontractor, Raises Wages and Benefits for Workers


Stanford, CA, January 18, 2002- In a meeting on Friday with students and SEIU Local 715 Union members, Stanford University administration committed to enacting a living wage for all Stanford workers by the end of the academic year. President John Hennessy stated that providing a living wage and health benefits for all employees of the University was a “moral imperative.” The President admitted that there are probably workers at Stanford who are not currently paid a living wage.

The coalition representatives present at the meeting were optimistic about concrete progress to be made in the near future. “What we are asking Stanford to do – establish a living wage and provide other services to safeguard the quality of life of Stanford workers – is necessary to the strengthening of our community,” said Bryan Kim, Chair of the Asian American Students’ Association and a student representative at yesterday’s meeting. “Hearing the President express his sense of personal responsibility to this end is very promising. But we need to make sure that these sentiments translate to significant and tangible improvements.”

Administrators, including University President John Hennessy and advisors also agreed to support workers’ rights to organize and collectively bargain, as well as a University program to encourage student and community respect for workers. They agreed to address the issues of the right to organize, affordable health care, and a livable wage for subcontracted workers as well as those employees directly hired by Stanford.

President Hennessy would not specifically commit to stopping subcontracting despite its use as a means of undermining labor standards and avoiding responsibility to workers. He did acknowledge, “It is not right to [subcontract] solely to pay workers less.”

The issue of subcontracting emerged as a major point of contention between coalition representatives and the Stanford administration. “Stanford will not be a socially responsible institution until there is economic justice for all of those who work hard to keep our university running, and that includes subcontracted workers,” stated Kuusela Hilo, Chair of the Pilipino American Student Union. “Subcontracting worsens the standard of worker compensation, which directly impacts the quality of life maintained by the people who then fill these outsourced positions. Unless Stanford commits to strict subcontracting guidelines, this labor practice will continue to be unjust.”

A follow-up meeting between workers, union representatives, students and administrators will take place within the next three weeks where these issues will be further discussed.

This meeting was part of a dialogue between Stanford students, workers, and administration that emerged in response to student-worker pressure to stop subcontracting injustices at three medical facilities that are part of Stanford University and Stanford Hospital. The Stanford Labor Action Committee (SLAC) began working with the local union in September to stop the outsourcing of ten housekeeping positions; a broad coalition of workers, students, faculty and alumni has since formed to address this and other labor injustices.

While neither Stanford University nor Stanford Hospital administration agreed to end the contract with Transpacific, in late December they amended the contract, increasing wages and benefits for the workers. Originally at $8.50 an hour with three sick days a year as the only medical benefits, wages were raised to $10.10 an hour with full benefits. The hospital is currently working on purchasing guidelines for future contracts.

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