The Murray State University chapter of the United Campus Workers of Kentucky is calling for a 10% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for all campus workers in the next budget cycle. On Thursday, April 28th, 2022, the Murray State University administration discussed their proposed budget at a town hall meeting at the Curris Center. At the meeting, they outlined a planned 2.5-3% COLA for all regular faculty and staff. Student workers will receive zero COLA for the next budget cycle.
Student worker David Adams elaborates that “As a Murray State student worker I make $7.25 an hour, generally limited to 20 hours a week. After taxes that runs about $276 a month. There are serious expenses associated with being a student, especially if you are commuting to and from the university every weekend. Members of the Murray State university love to walk around campus, attend events and games, just enough to get photos shaking hands with students to post on social media, but they are doing next to nothing for the material conditions of Murray State student workers and even their full time employees.”
The 2021 rise in the cost of living is estimated between 7% and 8.5% in 2021 (KLC at 7% and U.S. Labor & Statistics 8.3-8.5%). Other Kentucky state workers are receiving between 8-10% COLA this year, and up to 12% in 2023 (source 1, source 2 & source 3). This Friday, June 3rd, 2022, the Murray State University chapter of the United Campus Workers of Kentucky (UCW) will be calling on the Board of Regents to reject the inadequate COLA proposed in the administration’s proposed budget. UCW member representatives will speak during the public participation period regarding the lack of adequate COLA for the past decade, focusing on this year’s drastic disparity between COLA and real cost of living increases. Faculty member Antje Gamble says “many of us, even after tenure and promotion, have less spending power than we did when we started because of lack of adequate COLA and zero merit raises.”
UCW member representatives will also highlight the lack of budget transparency between the administration and campus workers. While Murray State has routinely claimed revenue shortfalls to push for ever deeper austerity on campus, since 2016 the university has continued to record millions of dollars of growth in cash and other assets. Faculty and staff were denied appropriate COLA raises as cash and cash equivalents increased by $27 million (19%) and unrestricted reserves grew by $24 million (21%) over the past five years. Rather acknowledging that previous budget cuts have put the university’s budget in the black and distributing some of this income in the form of raises, Murray State has doggedly continued to insist that we must cut costs and stash away surpluses even though our reserve and debt ratios have long exceeded recommended levels. In short, the administration has perpetually and disingenuously argued for financial distress, while the true financial picture is much more positive.
Staff member Jim Barnett says “I have had a thirty year career at Murray State and it saddens me that it is no longer a place I could in good conscience recommend as an employer to my friends and family. The last ten years have hit a low as the leadership hold their human resources cheap. It is reflected in the decline of benefits, outsourcing of services, salary and wages which have fallen behind the cost of living. Shared Governance is theater and masks a general disregard and occasional contempt for the workforce. Unions are not born in contented workplaces.”
The United Campus Workers of Kentucky is open to any and all campus workers (faculty, faculty, staff, facilities, healthcare, and graduate workers) at any Kentucky college or university campus. For more information about joining the chapter at Murray State University, you may contact ucwkymurray@gmail.com or find them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at @UCWKYMurray.