Featured Photo by Ravel Pirouznia
Story by Ethan Schmidt
Middle Tennessee State University’s chapter of the United Campus Workers of Tennessee is circulating a petition for biweekly pay for all hourly employees at the school.
At MTSU, hourly workers get paid every 30 days. In some cases, however, campus workers must wait for up to six weeks to get a paycheck, according to Spencer O’Neal, vice president of the United Campus Workers chapter, which has roughly 200 members.
“If you get hired on the 16th,” he said, “you’re going to have to work until the 15th of the next month, and then you’re going to have to wait till the end of that next month to actually get that pay…We have people who, depending on when you get hired, are not getting any sort of compensation for six weeks.”
O’Neal noted that if MTSU administration grants a request recently submitted by UCW, biweekly pay would shorten the wait for these workers’ paychecks. Instead of waiting for six weeks, workers who start on the 16th would receive their first paycheck after one month of employment and then get paid every two weeks.
“It doesn’t seem like an incredible ask,” said Secretary of MTSU UCW Ashton Beatty. “Most employers do pay biweekly, so right now, we’re trying to cycle the petition to all workers on campus who are interested in it.” The online petition allows for students, alumni, and general community supporters to sign.
The petition has garnered more than 500 signatures — far surpassing the union’s goal of 300 signatures. UCW members now look to submit this petition to MTSU administration.
“We’re planning on having a meeting at the end of this month to coincide with our monthly chapter meeting to firmly establish delivery method,” said O’Neal on September 19. “We’re ready to deliver.”
Kathy Musselman, Assistant Vice President of Human Resource Services, said the problem stems from inadequate staffing to process paychecks on a biweekly basis.
“We are discussing the possibility of going to another administrative software system. It could be that when we make that change — I don’t know how soon it would be — that it might be possible administratively.”
The organization may further utilize news media outlets to push MTSU administration to the bargaining table. According to O’Neal, UCW initiated its campaign with a petition to clearly communicate its desire to engage with the administration in good faith.
“We don’t want to come out of the gate and say MTSU is purposefully and maliciously doing this crazy thing to exploit its workers,” said O’Neal.
According to the UWC Vice President, the next issue for the union will be a wage increase for student employees.
With greater union membership, O’Neal argues, student-employee compensation can improve. “Regardless of what side you fall on politically, regardless of what stage of life you’re in, everyone can get behind, ‘Hey, people shouldn’t have to wait six weeks to get a paycheck.’ It’s that easy.”
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