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Wednesday,
November 7, 2001
Assembly
focuses on salaries
Entry-level
wages lower than other area universities
By
Piper Huddleston
Staff Reporter
Jacobo
Juarez, a Physical Plant employee, said he would like to spend
more time with his 2-year-old daughter, but can’t because
he depends on a second job to pay his bills. He said he works
40 hours a week at TCU and 35 to 40 hours at his other job.
“I
know TCU is doing a lot of good things to increase salary,
but they need to do more for the lowest paid employees in
the Physical Plant, grounds maintenance and housekeeping departments,”
said Juarez, who has worked at TCU for nine years.
Tara Pope,
a grounds maintenance employee, said approximately 65 percent
of the TCU grounds department works a second job, based on
a survey she conducted. At Tuesday’s Staff Assembly meeting,
Pope asked the Assembly to submit raising entry-level salaries
as a compensation concern to be addressed in a letter to Chancellor
Michael Ferrari.
Julie
Graver, a residential services employee, and Pope made suggestions
for the letter the executive committee of the Assembly will
write to Ferrari by the end of the month. The purpose of the
letter is to offer suggestions to Ferrari and the Chancellor’s
Cabinet as they make budget decisions for next year.
Pope
compiled a fact sheet comparing TCU’s entry-level salary
in relation to cost of living rates, the poverty line, the
number of people with second jobs and salaries at other area
institutions.
According
to the fact sheet, TCU’s entry-level wages for groundskeepers
are the lowest in comparison to other area universities and
schools including Texas Women’s University, Texas Wesleyan
University and Fort Worth Independent School District.
TCU’s starting salary, $15,080 a year or $7.25 a hour,
places a family of two under the poverty line of $15,096,
Pope said.
“Last
year the entry level wages for some non-exempt staff were
raised from $5.73 to $7.25 a hour, which was a great start
in improving the living wages, but we still have a ways to
go,” Pope said.
Pope’s
second suggestion Tuesday was to include long-time employees
in next year’s compensation fund. Non-exempt employees
who have worked at TCU for three or more years, and who make
95 percent or above the average salary of their job group,
were ineligible to receive money from the $1 million compensation
fund this year, Pope said. Generally, employees working at
TCU the longest would be those making 95 percent or above,
she said.
“It
is unfair to lift the wage for entry-level and mid-level employees
while not compensating those employees who have been at TCU
the longest,” Pope said.
Bob Seal,
Assembly chairman, said the executive committee of the Staff
Assembly will take Tuesday’s suggestions into account,
and also consider salary goals already set by the Assembly,
which includes compensation of long-time employees.
Pope
also asked that in the future, the Assembly investigate whether
to ask Chancellor Ferrari and the cabinet to place salaries
for the lowest paid staff members on the list of items alumni
are asked to donate to. She said each year money is donated
to the university for various projects such as updating and
expanding the campus.
She said
TCU’s mission statement, “To educate individuals
to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens
in the global community,” should be considered when deciding
where this money goes.
“We
cannot build multi-million dollar buildings for students to
learn and act ethically and responsibly while the buildings
are being cleaned and landscaped by individuals working two
jobs just to pay the bills,” Pope said. “Before
we improve our community, we need to act ethically and responsibly
toward all TCU employees.”
Pope
said she wanted to thank the administration for all the positive
changes so far.
“There have been many positive changes, but we want to
show that while we have come a long way, there is still a
lot of work to be done,” Pope said.
Piper Huddleston
k.p.huddleston@student.tcu.edu
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