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Raise Update at Tennessee Board of Regents

Earlier today the Tennessee Board of Regents Personnel and Compensation Committee met at Nashville State Community College. UCW was present at this meeting. Among the items on the Committee's agenda were employee salary increases for FY 2012.

The committee voted to recommend a system-wide salary increase of 3% or $750, whichever is greater. This recommendation now goes to the full Board for final approval.

The inclusion of a flat dollar minimum raise, a long time cornerstone of our union's work to win Living Wages for higher education employees will directly benefit 2,500 TBR employees across the state. Additionally, the added raise pool - 3% instead of the state mandated 1.6% - is positive news for all 17,000 TBR employees. Make no mistake, the long campaign for a real cost of living increase helped lead to today's decision. This campaign included the campus speak-out events last fall, the University of Memphis Vigil for a Living Wage in January and the rally that delivered over 1,200 postcards to President Raines on April 8, your trips to Nashville for the March 15 rally, the pickets at ETSU and U of M on June 1, the letter signed by dozens of TTU employees to Chancellor Morgan just two weeks ago, and the innumerable postcards, emails and phone calls to legislators, campus and system administrators.Proposals to allow campuses to implement additional salary increases, including long overdue equity pay adjustments and services bonuses not to exceed $1,000 are welcome news. We will continue to monitor developments as the full Board meets tomorrow.

While this raise will not bring the thousands of TBR employees currently earning poverty-level wages to the Living Wage, it is a real step on what will likely be a long road ahead of us. We knew that this struggle would not be won quickly when we started. Likewise, 3% is still a far cry from bringing salaries for faculty and staff in line with peer institutions, and with no cap included it will also increase the wage-gap between top paid administrators and the rest of us.

Our organizing efforts at TBR schools from Johnson City to Memphis, From Chattanooga to Murfreesboro, from Clarksville to Columbia must continue. This victory shows the results that we can achieve through collective action and a strong, unified voice for all higher education employees!