EXCLUSIVE: LMU to raise base staff pay; FM advocates offer critical response | News

LMU plans to increase hourly pay from $16 to $19.50 for its staff including Facilities Management (FM) workers, announced a University press release on Aug. 26. This change was prompted by the results of a compensation study conducted by the University following a student-led demonstration on April 25. Later that month, students, staff and faculty marched from the Lair Marketplace to President Timothy Law Snyder’s, Ph.D., office in University Hall to demonstrate after a letter written by anonymous FM workers with Anna Harrison, a theology professor, gave voice to FM workers’ concerns over wages.

“These workers, who received the lowest salaries, are at the frontlines, protecting the health of all of us during the pandemic that has overwhelmed us for over two years. For these reasons, they should not only be considered essential workers with words: they must be compensated with a dignified and just salary of at least $21 per hour,” read the original letter.

As part of an ongoing effort in support of FM workers, a group composed of students, staff and faculty called FM Solidarity penned another open letter in response to the University’s base compensation increase.

“Last spring, these students, together with staff and faculty, denounced campus poverty wages in solidarity with Facilities Management workers. Our students have much to teach the LMU community about living out our mission of social justice, and alongside them, we must do more: LMU continues to deny its employees a just minimum wage of $21 an hour,” reads the latest letter.

The University’s press release outlines how the base compensation for University employees will become $19.50 per hour in October 2022. The press release also acknowledges the University’s benefits for employees such as healthcare; the University’s contributions to healthcare for each employee is estimated to be worth $6.37 per hour. This benefit, plus base compensation, equals a total living wage of $25.52 per hour, according to the University’s calculations. The value of other benefits such as “dental, vision, life insurance, paid holidays, sick leave, vacation and tuition remission” are not factored into that $25.52.

While the University will offer $25.52 as a living wage, FM Solidarity’s request was for a $21 minimum wage. The Global Living Wage Coalition (GLWC) defines a living wage as: “The remuneration received for a standard workweek by a worker in a particular place sufficient to afford a decent standard of living for the worker and her or his family.” While a living wage can include the estimated worth of provided benefits, a minimum wage or base compensation is the pay owed to employees irrespective of other benefits. Since LMU’s wage increase will change staff pay to $19.50 before benefits, FM Solidarity’s request for a $21 hourly minimum wage has not been met.

The University’s press release acknowledges discrepancies that may occur when determining what constitutes a living wage. The release noted: “Though living wage definitions vary, many standards are calculated by combining base compensation with employer-paid healthcare benefits.” By this standard, according to the City of Los Angeles, LMU’s pay raise offers a living wage. The City’s Living Wage Ordinance similarly defines a living wage and states that employers must offer base compensation of $16.04 per hour plus $1.04 per hour of healthcare benefits or $17.29 per hour without healthcare benefits in order to pay their employees a living wage. With the pay increase taking effect in October, LMU will surpass the City’s living wage standard. However FM Solidarity defines a livable wage as a $21 hourly minimum wage regardless of benefits; LMU’s pay increase will not meet that amount.

“It’s not $21. [Snyder] … is already getting paid $600,000 a year. I can’t even fathom having that. I can’t even fathom making that amount of money,” said Nona Pittman, senior African American studies and communication studies double major and ASLMU chief communications officer. “We could take some away from him and give it to FM workers.”

The new base compensation rate was determined based on the results of a compensation study conducted by Human Resources. “The comprehensive compensation study reviewed wages for more than 100 benchmarked positions at LMU and other institutions around the region,” said Mason Stockstill, interim director of media and public relations at LMU. “It also weighed economic conditions, the competitive employment marketplace and external research on living wages, alongside the University’s finances, benefit offerings and fiscal planning for our future.”

Harrison, a longtime advocate for FM Workers, claimed this press release targets more than the trust of the student body. “That menacing language of LMU’s press release, which suggests tuition will go up if students support a just wage, is deeply cynical and undermines the building of community at LMU,” she said.

Regarding tuition, the press release shared: “These processes and obligations require careful consideration and an understanding that our financial resources are all interconnected. Expenses are paid by our tuition revenue, and tuition is paid by our students and their families.”

According to Pittman, the focus on tuition is misguided. “Aren’t these administrators getting paid through us? It’s absolutely nonsense to be blaming students as the reason that FM workers are not getting paid,” she said.

An anonymous LMU faculty member believes this point actively shifts blame onto students. “The obscene attempt by LMU administrators, who are making hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, to pit students against economically vulnerable workers will not work,” they said. “LMU administrators would do well to remember the final stanza from the student protest chant in spring 2022: ‘Lies and tricks will not divide! Lions standing side by side!’”

In response to these claims, Stockstill commented “We must also be vigilant about responsibly managing our budget, the vast majority of which comes from student tuition payments. That includes funding many competing needs,” he noted.

For context, in the 2020-21 academic year, the total cost of undergraduate tuition was $51,820. That year, salaries and wages for all employees made up 48.67% of total University operating expenses. The University’s financial data is publicly available here.

Despite her concerns, Pittman also celebrated the pay increase. “I think we have to celebrate baby steps because the reality is that LMU could have done absolutely nothing. When you look at the greatest advocates of social justice, they celebrated those small wins,” she said. “We have to both celebrate and push forward, not one or the other.”