Living Wage for Workers Backed by Council

Spirited pleas for humanity degenerated to arguments over the definition of "germaneness" at last night's Undergraduate Council meeting.

After the success of a bill endorsing a higher minimum wage for non-student employees, the rest of the meeting was bogged down in parliamentary procedure as the council attempted to tackle the $40,000 question yet again.

Council Vice President Kamil E. Redmond '00 sponsored the legislation, which pledged support for the Living Wage Campaign, a group of students fighting to raise Harvard salaries to $10 per hour--the minimum living wage for Cambridge according to the city.

Several members of the coalition spoke in favor of the legislation.

"Many of us walk by janitors and dining services workers every day and don't really think about the way in which they live," said Aaron D. Bartley, a first-year student at the Law School.

Reasons for opposition to the bill ranged from skepticism over the lack of statistics to fear of cuts in financial aid.

"I just don't think that raising wages to $10 an hour is something that's going to benefit the workers," said council member Michael D. Shumsky '00. Shumsky said the jump in wages was likely to result in layoffs.

Bradley L. Davis '00, also a council member, questioned whether the issue falls under the council's authority.

"It is not proper for this body to consider questions of justice," he said.

"I think the U.C. sometimes just has to come down to planet Earth," responded council member Chad A. Washington '00. "If this is something students care about, this is something we should care about," he said.

Redmond agreed, citing widespread student support of the issue. "600 students?" she said, referring to the number of names on a petition the campaign recently circulated. "Did we even have that many people voting [in council elections]?"

Later, representatives attempted to bring up issues concerning the $40,000 found in a forgotten account last fall. Last week, the council voted to survey students on how the money should be spent.

A bill that proposed to give the issue to the student body in a binding referendum failed after a heated debate. Almost 20 minutes of argument ensued over whether the bill--which was similar to a motion that failed last week--could be introduced.