YDSA students campaign for higher student worker wages

By Carlota Pulgar News Contributor

Many services offered at Texas State are run by student workers who subjectively, may not be paid a livable wage, giving the title "broke college student" a new meaning. The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) at Texas State is seeking to raise wages for student workers to at least $15 an hour. The organization launched its labor campaign on Nov. 17 with a press conference and informational picket.

YDSA Co-chair Andrew Maglich, a political science sophomore, wrote the proposal and the chapter voted to make it their official campaign. Maglich, a former Alkek Library student worker, said he liked the job but struggled to compensate for the lack of pay.

"I worked at Alkek. It's a great job if the pay was livable," Maglich said. "I really enjoyed working at the library, I think there's a lot of good that comes from it. You can provide a lot of good services to people, but it just doesn't pay enough for people to be able to do that and live."

During his time as a student worker, he saw a merging of departments which affected his job and workload. This led him to realize the lack of a voice for student workers on campus.

"It was a decision that was like, fully opposed by every single student worker I talked to about it," Maglich said. "That was one driving factor to where I kind of realized that there's a lot of discontent in on-campus positions where student workers are not being paid enough, but they also don't have a voice on the job."

Noah Jefferson, a biology senior, worked as a desk assistant for the Department of Housing and Residential Life from his freshman year up until last semester. He was paid $9.50 an hour and said employees were told they were replaceable by the department when they complained about treatment.

"In my job the first point of contact for the dorms was the student workers, that front desk is the first person they’re going to," Jefferson said. "Pretty much every amenity that Texas State offer is done under the assistance and labor of students."

Larry Adisa, a communication studies senior, has worked as an orientation leader and as a PACE peer mentor. He was paid $10 an hour as a peer mentor and said student workers are integral to Texas State.

"They are basically like the blood of the campus. They basically keep everything running. The rec student workers, LBJ front desk student workers — everywhere is student workers," Adisa said. "So we have to make sure that student workers are taken care of because you always have to remember like, we're also going to classes. They always tell us that we should put our academics first, but we can't put our academics first if we're not being paid a livable wage."

Despite the pay, Adisa believes there are positive opportunities that come from working on campus like building connections and honing skills. Still, he believes there should be more benefits.

"We should definitely pride ourselves on doing more than just the bare minimum for students, especially here at Texas State," Adisa said. "We need to have some more benefits to working on campus [like] if you're working during lunchtime, they give you meal swipes or if you're working a job for the entire school year, they give you $200 in Bobcat Bucks."

According to Madeline Davila, director of the Office of Payroll and Tax Compliance, there are a lot of factors that go into the pay grade of student workers.

"It all depends on the position and also federal guidelines," Davila said. "How much you're going to get paid an hour above the minimum [wage] depends on your duties, responsibilities and your position that you held as a student worker."

THEATER