The Orbis

A living wage, stated simply, is the wage needed to make a living while working one job. To calculate the living wage in a particular city, economists assume a 40-hour workweek and add up housing, food, and other basic living expenses associated with the city. The calculation is applied to many different family types, but the standard living wage policy uses a family of 2 working adults and 2 children as a model. For Nashville, this wage is $9.50 per hour for each adult, and a chart detailing the calculation is posted on the Web site www.vanderbilt.edu/students4livingwage.

If it costs so much to sustain a decent lifestyle, why does the federal government keep the minimum wage so low? The answer, unfortunately, is partisan politics. Last year, Republicans proposed raising the minimum wage to $6.15 while Democrats proposed a raise to $7.15. Since neither party wanted to give the other an election year legislative victory, neither party supported the other's bill, and the minimum wage stayed at $5.15. In real dollars, the minimum wage in 1968 was more than 60percent higher than it is now. If it had risen with inflation from its peak 1968 level, the minimum wage would be $8.49.

The living wage movement at universities started at Harvard and has expanded to scores of other schools from Johns Hopkins and Georgetown to Belmont and Agnes Scott College. Vanderbilt's student version, Living Income for Vanderbilt Employees (LIVE), was founded in 2002 when a custodian approached a group of students with an article about the Harvard living wage campaign and asked why Vanderbilt didn't have one. Since then the group has focused on researching the problem, educating the Vanderbilt community, empowering the lowest paid workers and articulating the massive support for a living wage among the faculty, students, and Vanderbilt community at large.

Most of what LIVE has done has taken place behind the scenes, like meeting with both the Vanderbilt administration and the Laborers union to encourage them to work together to increase the wages of the lowest paid workers. LIVE has organized rallies and public displays of the Vanderbilt community's support for a living wage. Last fall's rallies coincided with the negotiations of workers' hourly wages, and the negotiations ended with the base wage increasing from $6.50 to $7.50.

This year LIVE is doing many of the same things it has done in past years. It continues to advocate, both publicly and privately, for a living wage for all Vanderbilt employees. Even with last year's raise, about 300 employees may still be making less than a living wage. LIVE maintains an active worker outreach program that listens to and responds to the lowest-paid workers and their concerns. The organization continues to build the coalition of Vanderbilt student groups, faculty, staff, and Nashville community members who support a living wage. Finally, it continues to stimulate the debate on campus about a living wage and an employer's responsibilities to its workers. In this vein, LIVE will host some of the students from Georgetown's successful living wage campaign on October 6. The organization will hold a viewing of a documentary about the Georgetown campaign at 7 PM in Stevenson 4327 and will follow it with a Q&A panel with their members. All are welcome to attend the event.

If you're interested in joining LIVE, meetings are Wednesdays at 8 pm in Sarratt 110, or you can contact LIVE through its Web site: www.vanderbilt.edu/students4livingwage.

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