Wednesday, Nov. 14: University of Memphis Living Wage!

To meet the basic cost of living in Memphis a person working full time must be paid at least $11.62/hr*. That's the Living Wage here. Both Shelby County and Memphis City acknowledge this number, and pay their workers a living wage at the very minimum. 

In a recent meeting University of Memphis administrators also acknowledged that $11.62/hr is the minimum pay required to meet the cost of living. 

And yet, many hundreds of University of Memphis workers, custodians and adjuncts, grounds keepers, clerical workers and graduate students, and many others, are paid what is literally a poverty wage. Many workers are forced to work 2 or 3 jobs, or rely on charity or government assistance to get by. 

Poverty wage policies at the University of Memphis are formed by the concrete and legal legacy of Jim Crow in the south. They are also shaped by a national trend to force universities to function more and more like corporations, treating diplomas as a commodity, and workers as just another cost.

Come hear workers speak their story, hear simple hard facts, and decide for yourself. The event is sponsored by