May 1, 2009

Cornell: First in Everything Else

Last in Wages

Cornell is a great university. And whether its sports, the quality of the business school, environmental sustainability, diversity, how older employees are treated or many other areas, Cornell strives to excel and compete with its Ivy League cousins.

So why not wages?

One area where Cornell falls very short when compared to the other Ivy League schools is the wages it pays service and maintenance workers. As the charts show, the wages Cornell pays food service workers and custodians are in the basement.

Custodians

Take custodians for example. The Cornell job rate for custodians (after 2 years) is about $2/hour less than Brown and Columbia pay custodians, $2.60 less than Dartmouth, over $3 bucks less than Yale and over $4 less than Harvard pays.

The difference in hire rates is also striking. And whether it’s a hire rate or job rate food service and other worker wages also compare unfavorably to the other schools.

Our information on wages at the other schools is based on union contracts for workers at these institutions.

Cornell tries to wiggle out of its responsibility to pay a family sustaining wage by saying the cost of living here is less so of course wages are less.

Don't believe it. According to expert data from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI Budget Calculator), the amount that a family needs to sustain itself — a living wage — is MORE here than in the communities where Brown and Dartmouth are, about the same as the New Haven area (Yale), and less than Boston and NYC.

And while the cost of maintaining a family is 16% higher in Boston, the Harvard job rate is 33% more.

Food Service Workers

Cornell food service workers have a huge additional problem. We face winter, spring and summer layoffs WITHOUT ANY INCOME (apart from some who get jobs in facilities management for part of the summer).

So Cornell food service workers are hit with a double whammy — low wages and no unemployment benefits.