As a Cornell Dining worker and a UAW Local 2300 steward, I witness the economic difficulties that Cornell employees endure every day, every year. Local 2300 is the union of Cornell dining, janitorial, maintenance and grounds workers. We clean your dorms, cook your food, keep your classrooms functioning and maintain the quads and sidewalks. We are an integral part of the University, working hard every day to ensure Cornell can operate. Yet many of us don’t earn a living wage and cannot keep ourselves and our families out of poverty.

A living wage, distinct from a minimum wage, is the income level required to achieve a specific standard of living. In the U.S., this level is usually determined by the amount an individual working 40 hours a week all year-round would need to earn to support him- or herself without public assistance. The rate varies across and within states due to the different costs of living in different areas.

For Tompkins County in 2007, the living wage for a single person was $20,450 a year. With a child to support, the living wage was $26,400. A family of four would need at least $40,000-$45,000 to meet its basic needs.

Most Cornell dining workers earn about $16,500 for the year. Some even earn less than $15,000. Meanwhile, about 15 percent of Building Care employees earn about $18,000 or less for the year.

Workers who earn less than a living wage and have a child to support qualify for social services, including Section 8 housing, WIC, reduced price school lunches, day care assistance, assistance with utility bills and Child Health Plus. Full time workers at Cornell should not be dependent on welfare to put food on the table, heat their homes or bring their child to the doctor.

The state of our economy notwithstanding, it is also very difficult for Cornell Dining workers to secure additional hours to earn more income. 24 percent of dining workers work less than 35 hours a week, rarely by choice. Dining workers are also laid off during fall break for one week, winter intercession for up to six weeks, Spring Break for one week and summer recess for up to three months. However, due to a New York State law, workers at educational institutions can’t collect unemployment insurance from the government during the months they aren’t at work. Cornell also refuses to provide its workers with unemployment insurance.

Moreover, though still employed, many dining and other workers face reductions in scheduled hours during the academic terms, further shrinking an already scant paycheck. This reduction in hours is not a result of diminished business needs. It is a means of reducing costs, as evidenced by the ever-increasing hours that management is spending to perform our bargaining unit work.

After returning to work following four weeks of layoff during winter inter-session, an anonymous Cornell Dining worker of two years was informed by his manager that business needs made it necessary to reduce the employee’s schedule by five hours a week.

“When I was hired I was told that it was only a 10 month position, but I was OK with that. My starting wage was more than the job I was working, and it was full time. And hey, it’s an Ivy League school, right? It all seemed so good, so I took the job,” he said.

But the worker soon found out the true state of his job. “Well, it started out that way for the first couple of months, but then fall break came around and I was laid off for a week. Then with winter break I was laid off for four more weeks … spring break, another week. That’s when I learned that a ten month dining worker really gets only about eight months of work because of all the layoffs.”

Today, the worker is behind in some of his bills and is struggling to provide for his family. He also needs money to repair his car as he commutes a long distance to and from work. “I’m trying to find a part-time job to tide me over, but this economy has made even a part-time job hard to come by. I don’t know how I’m going to make it.”

This employee shares the company of many who are in this predicament, and for now I can only refer them to food banks and their county department of social services. A stopgap measure to be sure, it is still taxpayer dollars subsidizing our paychecks — an appalling fact given that the paychecks are from such an illustrious institution as Cornell University.

To improve the situation of Cornell workers, our union needs a fair contract. We are now in the midst of negotiations as our current contract is set to expire in June. The fact that so many of the hard working men and women who keep our university functioning are earning less than the poverty line is a clear indication that Cornell needs to do better, even during the recession.

The University disagrees. They say we need to make sacrifices. The University is offering us a small one-time bonus and is demanding that our wages be frozen. This offer is morally wrong. Cornell is a financially secure institution and should not grossly underpay its employees during these tough times.

I ask you to join me and the UAW during the coming days, weeks and months. Please attend our events and rallies. Tell Cornell workers that you support them and their union. Pin a “Fair Contract” button on your jacket or bag. Student support has been crucial in past negotiations and will be a huge help to the current struggle. We want to work. We need to work. It’s well past time to ensure all Cornell employees receive fair wages and benefits so we can provide for our families in the same way we provide for Cornell.