The Living Wage Coalition entered the office of College President Taylor Reveley today, presenting him with a children’s book comprised of stories from College housekeepers. The Living Wage Coalition is demanding that the minimum salary for a campus worker should be set at $15 an hour. Here are some of Reveley’s comments during the meeting.
On his accessibility, “I am totally accessible.”
On the Living Wage Coalition, “You all have a particular view of this and it is not universal.”
On the character of students in the Living Wage Coalition, “You all have been wonderful.”
On the more general state of the economy, “The genuine middle class is under serious financial strain. It’s very hard to borrow money from banks.”
On the filling of vacancies, the existence of which Reveley initially refuted during his Sept. 23 forum with students, “It didn’t take months and months once I said do it…I actually get things fixed.”
Reveley also discussed the three pronged strategy advocated by the Living Wage Coalition to increase the welfare of campus workers. Concerning respect for campus workers he said that students must focus on ensuring that the entire student body justly respects housekeepers, for example by not vomiting all over dormitory bathrooms. Reveley said that he would focus on ensuring that supervisors pay the proper respect to those under them. Regarding the third prong of this strategy, raising the wages of campus workers, Reveley defended their current compensation in saying, “There are very few people who would do those jobs if they could do anything else.”