United Students Against Sweatshops holds town hall meeting to share frustrations over pay
USAS invited several administrators to hear workers’ concerns at the meeting but none of them showed up. (Taylor Edwards/The Black Explosion)
The University of Maryland Systems (USM) Board of Regents Committee on Finance announced a recommendation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour to its board. The announcement came during a United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) town hall meeting at the Stamp Student Union building on Thursday.
The university’s chapter of USAS has been advocating for a pay raise to $15 an hour for months. This past month, the organization hung up QR codes around campus to get students to sign a petition to raise the minimum wage.
The organization collected a total of 1,276 signatures in four days with a wide range of signers from faculty, parents, students, student workers and non-student UMD workers. The petition was then sent to both UMD and USM administrations via email.
USAS posted the full petition on their Instagram and on their Twitter @ usas_umd
The petition outlined their demands as well as different issues workers face on campus such as housekeepers getting heat stroke from cleaning buildings. It also included other universities that have increased their minimum wage, such as University of Memphis, Ohio State and Indiana University.
The town hall meeting had several testimonies from different workers such as resident assistants (RAs) and library employees on campus about hardships they face on a daily basis.
Sherma Roberts, a housekeeper in the Cambridge Community, said that the job is back-breaking because of the constant bending down to wipe the floors. Because of this, she said that she had to get three surgeries on both of her arms and her back since she started working.
“Back in the day, I could afford to help my family back home overseas. [COVID-19] came and I can’t do that anymore because the cost of living went up through the roof. I can’t help my family with this petty cash that I’m getting every month,” said Roberts.
Sophomore community health and psychology major Amanda Vu also talked about her struggles as a community assistant (CA) at the Pyon-Chen residence hall service desk. CAs work at service desks that are open 24 hours a day and they are responsible for answering residents’ questions, handing out packages, and working late night shifts.
Vu said that being a CA is a big stress in her life because CAs are expected to be seen as the “perfect face of the building.”
“This is why I think the $15 minimum wage isn’t even that livable, it’s just really the bare minimum due to the stuff we have to deal with,” said Vu.
Vu said that because of one incident at the desk, she no longer feels safe at the desk.
Vu said back in October, a resident verbally abused a CA and caused the CA to hide in a closet behind the desk. The resident was never disciplined for their actions; however, the Pyon-Chen staff were expected to attend a strengths and weaknesses workshop together to learn from the experience.
“That was just a slap in the face because it was like instead of taking accountability for your lack of safety and security at the desk, you made us feel like we were responsible for going through that and handling the situation,” said Vu.
There are some workers who can’t fully speak out because of the risk of them losing their jobs.
One contractor – who didn’t want to be named out of fear of retaliation– said that contractors don’t receive the same benefits as other workers on campus, which makes speaking out riskier.
“Contraction workers won’t be included in that $15 raise because they can’t join the union,” she said.
The fight still continues for all campus workers such as unpaid ones like RAs to be included in the wage increase. USM will vote as a full board on Dec. 10 at Bowie State University on the proposal to approve the increased minimum wage.