ND must respect employee rights and concerns
Paul Graham
Another Perspective
Working in Notre Dame Food Services for two and a half years allowed me to meet many of the workers who cook and prepare our food, clean tables, wash dishes, take out trash, mop floors and clean what we drop — among many other things that you would be disgusted by if you realize what people do for a wage. I've met their families; they tell me about their children, their troubles and what's been going on lately in their lives.
Through talking with workers, I've discovered that many have complaints about their treatment here. Many complaints are alarmingly similar, not to mention troublesome.
They have trouble paying hospital bills; they can't go to a dentist without worrying about the cost; they have no control over their work schedule. Many workers complain to me about the wages, the hours, the lack of benefits, the conditions and the management — just to name a few things. In many cases, they feel miserable when they are at work.
Due to the fact that Notre Dame is a Catholic university, these complaints are disturbing. The Church has a tradition of over 100 years of Catholic Social Teaching (CST), which is official Church teaching regarding many social issues. This tradition includes assertions about the right of all laborers to earn a living wage, to join unions and to bargain collectively. According to these teachings, work is a valuable part of human life. More importantly, the dignity of each person must be valued above capital and profit.
Notre Dame prides itself on its Catholic identity; therefore, CST should be an integral part in every aspect of University life. So, why is it that the workers here earn just over the poverty level, are overworked, feel as if they are not allowed to organize and generally feel that they are treated poorly?
According to CST, Notre Dame must pay its workers a living wage, whether they clean, cook or answer phones. Neither the market nor their position should influence the definition of their value.
The average campus worker is classified either as level two or three, based on the type of work. A level two worker earns, at minimum, $7.72 per hour. At 40 hours a week, every week, that worker will earn only $16,057.60 annually without time off. Human Resources' pay philosophy states that "the rate of pay for staff positions is based on the relevant competitive markets as well as on the level of responsibility of the position." In CST the dignity of all labor is more important then the market; therefore, workers' wages should be based not on the market, but on the value of human life.
At a lecture on April 3, Martin Wolfson, an associate professor of economics at Notre Dame, estimated the South Bend living wage to be $10 per hour; however, he believed that this was quite a compromise from higher estimates and studies.
Everyone deserves a living wage, and Notre Dame, being a leader on other social issues, should be the leader on this issue. As it employs over 4,000 people, this school is the largest employer in South Bend. As such, the University has the ability to boost the local economy and influence other employers through an increase of worker's wages.
In a memo to the Progressive Student Alliance, Notre Dame recently declared that "the University does recognize the dignity of each of its employees and does respect the right of employees to organize and form unions."
Yet the history of this school has shown otherwise. In 1977 groundskeepers advocating unions and involved in the unionizing drive were fired. This clearly contradicts the papal encyclical "Gaudium et Spes" which condemns anti-union action and claims that "among the basic rights of the human person must be counted the right of freely founding labor unions ... without risk of reprisal." Notre Dame's history and the current condition of campus labor demonstrate a substantial discrepancy between what it claims and the present situation.
The University's mission statement refers to its Catholic identity five separate times. Therefore CST must be an important aspect of Notre Dame, essential in every dimension of the University. Consequently, in keeping with its own tradition, Notre Dame must do everything possible to respect its employees. This can even go as far as encouraging unionizing. Pope John Paul II said that unions "serve the development of an authentic culture of work and helps workers to share in a fully human way in the life of their place of employment."
Ask workers around campus if they would like a living wage. Talk to workers about their working conditions. Get to know those who support us daily. Their lives are just as valuable and important as ours. Look at them as our mothers or fathers, brothers or sisters. Then ask if they deserve more. Could you do more? Could Notre Dame do more?
Paul Graham is a junior sociology major with a minor in Catholic social tradition. His column appears every other Wednesday. Contact him at pgraham@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, April 10, 2002
