After growing pressure from the Georgetown Solidarity Committee’s Living Wage Campaign, Senior Vice President and Administrative Officer Spiros Dimolitsas sent a letter to the GSC detailing a change in University policy towards contract workers Tuesday.
Dimolitsas indicated that the University would guarantee contract workers an unprecedented hourly wage of at least $8.50 and access to health care benefits.
This change was the first in the relationship between Georgetown University and its contract work service, P&R Enterprise, since the GSC took up the national Living Wage Campaign initiative nearly a year ago.
After committee meetings with faculty members and university officials, GSC members began a campaign to gain the University’s attention that culminated in a series of letters to Dimolitsas. The GSC felt that Dimolitsas’ response letter was a sign of progress for the Living Wage Campaign, but maintained that more needed to be done.
GSC Member Mike Wilson (CAS ‘05) expressed GSC’s resolve to do more. “We’re happy that the University is taking this step-it’s a positive step, and it’s a good show that they’re willing to make a change,” he said.
Annie Rogers, a policy analyst at the D.C. Fiscal Policy Center said that while $8.50 an hour was higher than the federal minimum wage, it fell short of what she termed a “living wage.”
“We’re still talking about a wage that’s less than the poverty line for a family of four,” she said.
Daniel Porterfield, Vice President for Strategic Affairs and Development, who worked closely with the GSC to formulate the policy change, defended the University.
“I think we’ve made excellent progress to ensure $8.50 and to ensure that contract employees have access to health benefits,” he said.
Porterfield also challenged GSC charges that the University could have initiated a better and faster policy change.
Currently, P&R Enterprise employees at Georgetown receive no benefits, according to Wilson. They do not have health care coverage, vacation or overtime pay.
One P&R employee at Georgetown said he wishes he worked under the University instead of P&R.
“I’d like to work for Georgetown because they pay better,” said the employee, who preferred to remain anonymous.
P&R still must decide upon the new policy’s provision for health care benefits. According to Domilitsas’ letter, “P&R is surveying its employees to better understand their health care needs and expectations.”
If all goes according to plan, the University estimates that health care coverage will be available to P&R employees by December.
P&R must still approve the University’s policy changes. At that point, Chris Augostini, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, will sign off on the wage increases which will be retroactive to July 2004.
Wilson said that Georgetown’s Law Center and Medical Center also are changing their contract agreements with P&R.
