Archive: Business & Technology

A student meeting convened by Ithaca College President Thomas R. Rochon to discuss the Ithaca College “IC 20/20”, the vision of student learning for the next decade, opened the forum to begin talks on changing current labor policies and practices at the College. The student group, the Labor Initiative in Promoting Solidarity (LIPS), designed questions for the President concerning the contract with subcontracting company Sodexo, a living wage, and the right to organize for campus workers.

IC 20/20 is document that outlines the purpose and goals of Ithaca College in enhancing the student-learning experience for the next ten years. Students quoted from this document to promote the idea that a living wage must be part of this new vision if the College is to follow the vision at all.

The meeting among students and administration took place on the evening of October 7th, 2010 at Ithaca College.

Students were encouraged by the President and Provost to be part of the discussion about the vision for the College and students of the LIPS to grant all Ithaca College campus workers a living wage. A living wage, as defined biannually by Alternatives Federal Credit Union, equals the minimum hourly wage rate required to cover the local costs of food, housing, transportation, health care, child care, taxes and other basic necessities for a family of four with a single income-earner working a forty hour work week. Currently only some campus workers at Ithaca College are earning a living wage.

The Labor Initiative in Promoting Solidarity is an Ithaca College student organization affiliated with the Tompkins County Workers’ Center. This group works to educate the community on labor issues, as well as to promote and organize initiatives to change current labor standards nationally, regionally and locally.

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