“If a worker receives a wage sufficiently large to enable him to provide comfortably for himself, his wife and his children, he will, if prudent, gladly strive to practice thrift; and the result will be, as nature itself seems to counsel, that after expenditures are deducted there will remain something over and above through which he can come into the possession of a little wealth.”
- Rerum Novarum, Pope
Leo XIII, 1891

The above quote is an excerpt from an encyclical written by Pope Leo XIII as an open letter to all Catholic bishops on the subject of the condition of the working class. This letter is central to the modern notion of a “living wage,” which fundamentally is the idea that the minimum hourly wage a worker should be paid must reflect a certain standard of living in the area in which they work. Now, that certain standard for living is defined as many different things by many different people, but a few things are easily identifiable and objectively measurable: the average cost of housing, the average cost of food, and the average cost of transportation. For the Bronx area, the Penn State University Living Wage Calculator estimates that for one adult living alone, a minimum of $24,662 annually (or $11.89 per hour on a full time basis) is necessary to cover such expenses.

This is certainly good news to the security guards on campus, as the arduous nine-month long negotiations between the Fordham administration, Summit Security Services, their old union Allied International, and their new union, SEIU 32BJ, have finally culminated in the official enacting of a new contract. The contract sees the minimum wage for the Security Guards raised from $11.30 per hour to $13 an hour with immediate effect and rising to $14 per hour on New Year’s Day 2011. In addition, medical benefits will be improved and expanded to cover all members of the guards’ families, and free legal council, free training, improved vacation benefits, and employer contribution to 401(k) investment opportunities will also be provided. In the SEIU 32BJ press release, Fordham security guard Raffick Mohammed said, “Our new union contract is a true victory. Everything nowadays is so expensive that it’s like crawling out of a hole on weekly basis, so the wage increases will really help me with bills. Receiving health coverage for my family is one less thing to worry about.”

Father McShane, Head of Security John Carroll, the Workers Rights Board, Summit Security Services, SEIU 32BJ, Progressive Students for Justice, the security guards themselves, and all other parties involved deserve a very sincere congratulations, as it must have been incredibly difficult and often frustrating to try to get everybody on the same wavelength. Let us be frank here: any action which results in improved pay and benefits for the employees here on campus that does not cause a loss of jobs is a step forward and a commendable pursuit. “It is a win-win because nobody lost their job and the guards get wage increases and improved benefits,” said the prior mentioned Head of Security John Carroll. He did, however, admit to the difficulty of the undertaking. “Unfortunately, this was a very slow process,” he said, “but it had to methodically done. We were adamant about living wages & benefits.” He also stressed the difficultly in changing unions and how that particular subplot was a primary contributor to the length of the process. “It was a very difficult road to travel. These guards were represented by another union who they felt weren’t fighting for them. To switch unions is a very, very hard thing.”

While this is certainly a day for celebrating, the feeling that reverberates around the student parties involved is that this may very well be a victory, but what really matters is what the Fordham administration does with this victory. Because, up until February 1st (when the pay increase went into effect), many members of the Fordham security staff were more than $1200 annually under the living wage, according the PSU calculator. How were they allowed to be below the living wage in the first place?

Rose Hill sophomore and Progressive Students for Justice member Anne Kolar inquires, “If this is something that was recognized, why did it take a student campaign to bring attention to it and why is it not campus-wide? There are still plenty of workers in maintenance, janitorial services, and Sodexho not affected.” She went on to say, “It’s a good start, but I feel this has to be just the beginning of Fordham starting to recognize the value of its employees.” Reiterating this point, recently graduated Rose Hill alumnus and former PSJ member Matt Feiss, who was integral to the student protests
revolving around the delays in contract negotiations, says, “I think that gains are an improvement from where the security officers were just a few months ago, and I hope that they’re able to build on them in future negotiations.”

Keywords; future negotiations Given the current economic climate, it must be noted that Fordham is ultimately responsible for the entirety of the increased financial burden of these contracts. With the recent news of our shrinking endowment, the administration is surely to be commended for recognizing this particular problem and resolving it. However, there still are hundreds upon hundreds of people who clean our tables, cook our food, and ensure our school runs as well as it does who have yet to even have a voice in the matter. Why is it that Fordham is so committed to providing living wages to some of its full time employees, but not all?

So, Fordham, kudos. You have done a fantastic thing. The paper feels that today is a very proud day to be a Fordham student. But where do we go from here? With news just last week surfacing that inflation jumped the highest amount in six months, how long will it be before $14 an hour is below living wage? What will happen then? Is the administration going to wash its hands of this whole fair wage malarkey and pull a Bushesque “Mission Accomplished” stunt, or are we going to actually do service to the wise words of Pope Leo XIII and continually and perpetually work towards adequate living wages for all Fordham employees? Only time will tell, but I can assert to you this much: the latter is certainly the Catholic, and Jesuit, thing to do.