GC workers have started a petition titled “GCSU Workers Need Fair Wages NOW!” in hopes of getting themselves a livable wage. 

This petition was put together in partnership with United Campus Workers of Georgia, which is a union for all employees who are employed by the University System of Georgia. 

“Georgia College salaries are competitive, not only within the area and our immediate marketplace,” said Lee Fruitticher, vice president for finance and administration at GC. “We are also competitive within the University System of Georgia, certainly compared to institutions of a similar size.” 

The petition states that the target audience is GC President Cathy Cox. Then, it goes on to list the reasons why GC workers need to be paid more. The petition states that many staff workers make less than $15 per hour and that some of the student workers make $7.25 per hour.

“We want a commitment to raise wages, both for faculty, staff and student workers,” said Axel Hawkins, president of SGA at GC.

It also claims that many of the GC employees make a salary that is at the poverty level. New employees are being hired at a higher pay rate compared to workers who have worked for GC for 10-plus years. 

When signing the petition, you are demanding that GC commits to raising the minimum pay for student workers to $15 per hour and the minimum pay for all full-time staff to $20 per hour, increasing to $25 per hour by 2025. It will also provide standardized, annual stipends for graduate workers of at least $25,000 per year after fees. Also, raise the pay for part-time faculty to a per-course rate of $5000 and address pay compression by raising the wages of long-time workers. 

“I think a $15 base pay for student workers, while it sounds amazing, is way too much,” said Hannah Mitchell, a junior Career Center student advisor. “And it is almost impossible to make happen, considering you would have to raise every single full-time staff member’s salary the same amount before you could do it for student workers. I think $8.25 is a perfect base pay, so if it is raised, anything, it should go from $7.25 to $8.25.”

The petition is open to undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff, community supporters, alumni and healthcare workers at GC.

With students having an hourly cap of 19 hours a week, one student believes the amount currently paid to student workers is not meant to cover living expenses. 

“If you work at an on-campus job, you are really not doing much,” Mitchell said. “You are basically just assisting full-time staff with whatever they may need. And you can’t really work more than four hours a day if you want to stay under the allotted hours. Student-worker jobs are not meant to give you a livable salary. I got my job at the school so I could have extra money to spend how I want. If a student needs a job with a livable wage, I think they should get either an off-campus part-time job that has a good wage and can work you for more hours or a job in the service industry.”

 The staff at GC were unaware of the petition. When they were allowed to read it, they gladly signed it. They spoke of how this is a much-needed step to getting them paid enough and to not live paycheck to paycheck. 

Neidasha Yarbrough, a custodian in Facilities Management at GC, makes $14 and some change per hour. She explains that it is still not enough to cover all of her bills combined with taking care of her children.

“I need way more,” Yarbrough said. “The cost of living is too high; groceries is too high; children are too expensive. I feel like the pay is not fair. We need more money. Mrs. Cathy Cox, I love you, baby, but we need some more money. You can’t even afford no place to live if you don’t have a second job. You can’t afford to do any extra things ‘cause your check ain’t much, so I feel like employees here definitely need more money.” 

According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator, the living wage for one adult with one child in Baldwin County is $31.63 per hour. The poverty wage is $9.83 per hour. When you add another child, it increases to $38.97 per hour, and the poverty wage is $12.41 per hour.

GC commissioned a salary study in 2018 through the company Segal, formerly known as Sibson. The recommendations from this comprehensive study were implemented, which started on Jan. 1, 2021. The net result was an increase of $390,844 in salary compensation and an additional $104,405 in benefits compensation. This led to a total increase of $566,775 annually for GC employees.  

After these internal increases at GC, the governor and state legislature approved a $5,000 COLA, or cost-of-living adjustment, for state employees in 2022. All full-time GC employees at the time received the COLA, even if they were not state employees. Units such as Athletics, Continuing Education and Parking & Transportation funded COLA increases for all employees, even without being given state funding. 

As a result of these decisions and stewardship of our budget resources, approximately 99% of the 852 full-time employees at GC who are benefit-eligible make $30,000 or more annually.  

Some GC employees make $15 per hour and only get by due to their spouse’s income. 

“I make about $15 and some change,” Nettie Swint, a custodian in Facilities Management at GC said. “If I didn’t have a husband, I wouldn’t be able to make it. Some people not as fortunate as me to have a husband, and it’s still sometimes a struggle. They want us to do all this extra work, but we need more money ‘cause times are hard. By the time you pay one big bill out your check, your whole check is gone. One bill, your check is gone.”

The petition is sitting at 100 signatures, which is halfway to the 200 they set out to get in hopes of getting GC workers a livable wage.