Editorial: Two percent wage increase for student employees insufficient

For the first time in a long time, the University of California made an announcement that did not include the words layoffs, cuts or tuition increases earlier this week. Even more surprising was that instead, it mentioned the fabled words unheard of in this economic crunch down: pay increase.

The UC has agreed to a tentative proposal to increase wages by 2 percent over the next three years for all student employees, which includes undergraduate teaching assistants. More significantly, the child care stipend provided for parent student employees will be tripled. Approval, however, is still needed from student members of the United Auto Workers, who will be voting on the proposal from Tuesday to Saturday.

Though this initially sounds appealing, simply raising wages and increasing child care is not sufficient. While we understand that the UC’s pocketbook is drying up, a stronger effort to support student workers should be made. After all, these student employees rely heavily on their wages and are also less likely to have savings to fall back on as opposed to their full-time worker counterparts.

The fact is that a 2 percent wage increase is not substantial enough to compensate for the increasing cost of living because of inflation.

Even with this pay raise, student employees would not make as much as they did in past years. This means that the UC runs the risk of losing both current and potential student employees who cannot afford to work and study on campus.

We must also not forget that a significant portion of these student employees are the teaching assistants that undergraduates rely on to further their education. These TAs act as mentors and instructors, providing an accessible form of help that is indispensable for most undergraduate students. Especially in the UCs, which are so large and where the staff to student-faculty ratio is enormous, TAs serve as an essential resource to the overall learning experience. In a sense, they function as a necessary portion of the UC backbone, without which the campuses will be paralyzed.

Considering that the UAW was initially bargaining for a 5 percent increase, a 2 percent substitute also no longer seems so grand. Though tripling the child care benefits given sounds generous, child care remains at a high cost. Even with the extra cash flow, parent student employees will continue to struggle to find means to raise young children while simultaneously attending class and working on campus.

This board approves of the direction that this proposal signals that UC is heading toward, but maintains that more should be done to support our student employees. It is too simple to sit back, take the 2 percent raise and be content, naively saying that at least something is better than nothing.