We caught up with Tasha, UoNSU’s Environment and Social Justice Officer, to talk about the current campaign and events you can get involved with…
1) What is the UoN Living Wage Campaign?
The Living Wage Foundation is an organisation founded by Nottingham Citizens which independently calculates a realistic, livable wage each November based on the way in which living costs are rising. At UoN, societies, campaign groups and unions have formed a working group in order to focus on lobbying the University to become a Living Wage accredited employer.
2) What are your aims?
The campaign group’s main aim is to get the University to officially agree to be a Living Wage employer, meaning that they would increase wages according to the Living Wage Foundation’s recalculation of the Living Wage each November. We also have more general aims of lobbying to improve working conditions for the university’s lowest paid staff, for example cleaners who are continuously being given extra work to do in their shifts without getting extra time and money to do so.
3) How did you get involved with the campaign?
I got involved in the campaign at the end of my first year (2016) because of my committee position in UoN Feminists. UoN Feminists is one of the student groups involved in the Living Wage campaign group because standing up for the rights and welfare of people on low pay is a key part of intersectional feminism.
4) What have you achieved so far?
The UoN Living Wage campaign group has definitely lobbied with some success! Since we started campaigning, the University appears to have been making some effort to keep up with the Living Wage Foundation’s recommendations. Nevertheless, the lowest paid staff at UoN have only ever been paid the Living Wage for 3 months out of the year, meaning that after the Living Wage is recalculated in November, many workers spend 9 months just getting by on an unliveable wage; we need to expect more from UoN as an employer.
5) Do you have any upcoming events?
We are holding a ‘clean-in’ at the Trent Building courtyard on Tuesday 14th November at 8.30am. The aim of this action is to put some pressure on the new Vice Chancellor to meet with the campaign group and hear about the many benefits that would come about if UoN were to become a Living Wage accredited employer. We hope that the attention attracted by getting lots of students and staff together, pretending to clean, will demonstrate that there is a growing demand for UoN to be a more responsible employer.
6) How can other students get involved?
It would be fantastic to see as many students as possible at the clean-in, so definitely check out the Facebook event here: tinyurl.com/NottsCleanIn You can also follow UoN Living Wage on Facebook and Twitter! To hear about meetings and how you can do more to support the clean-in, send an email to either me (suenvironment@nottingham.ac.uk) or Ellie Mitchell (sucommunity@nottingham.ac.uk)