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Thursday is the strike deadline for clerical workers in Local 2110. A major issue is the pay scheme the university calls "pay for performance ." In such a system, individual workers compete for pay bonuses. Columbia claims that this would reward "hard workers." In reality, "pay for performance" allows supervisors to play favorites and pit workers against each other. It creates large pay in equities and has a history of leading to racist and sexist wage differences. Over 89% of union members voted to reject Columbia's plan. The union is demanding that wages be set by job grade and seniority, a principle basic to trade unionism. Here's why :
PAY-FOR-PERFORMANCE SYSTEMS ARE RACIST AND SEXIST. Studies show that up to 90% of the pay gap between men and women with the same jobs is due to differences in merit pay. It is well documented that wage inequities based on race and sex existed at Columbia in the early eighties, and they were a key reason why clerical workers organized in Local 2110. The university is still allowed to hire workers above the pay level for their job grade, but the majority of such discretionary money goes to white workers , even though the union is 65% people of color.
PAY-FOR-PERFORMANCE IS A UNION-BUSTING TACTIC. The ultimate pay-for-performance system is the non-union workplace. There, bosses set their workers' wages as they see fit. Unions are based on the principle that workers fight together for better and fair er wages. Wage inequality is about 30% less in union workplaces, largely because unions get rid of merit pay systems.
COLUMBIA WANTS ITS WORKERS TO WORK FASTER FOR LESS. The administration has stated clearly that the merit pay system is intended to create "a new behavioral culture." Signs of this culture are everywhere. Support staff has been cut by a third, but still does as much work. Repetitive stress injury claims have skyrocketed. Support staff now work more in isolation. Physical plant workers now regularly get scarring and fungal infections. Columbia's "culture" is a throwback to the 19th century.
ALL CLERICAL WORKERS DESERVE A RAISE. Even as they talk about "employee recognition," Columbia is offering a measly 3% wage increase, barely above inflation and funded largely by cuts in benefits. Now Columbia wants to pit workers against each other for raises and bonuses. Union members know better. They voted overwhelmingly to fight together for wage increases for all.
Don't take it from us that "merit pay" is inequitable and grossly unfair. Such is the result of tomes of academic studies. Here is a small sample of findings:
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Keith W. Chauvin and Ronald A. Ash, "Gender Earnings Differentials in Total Pay, Base Pay, and Contingent Pay," Industrial and Labor Relations Review 47:4 (July 1994).
This study looks at a sample of middle-aged, professional men and women. Women in the sample earn about 76% of what the men in the sample earn (this is a high number because the sample is already restricted to professionals). About 60% of that pay gap is explained by occupational segregation (i.e., women working in lower-paid occupations); nearly all of the other 40% is explainable by differences in "merit pay." In other words, "merit pay" alone causes about a 10% pay gap between men and women.
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Richard B. Freeman, "How Much Has De-Unionization Contributed to the Rise in Male Earnings Inequality?" in Uneven Tides: Rising Inequality in America, ed. by S. Danziger and P. Gottschalk, New York: Russell Sage Foundation (1993).
Richard B. Freeman, "Union Wage Practices and Wage Dispersion Within Establishments," Industrial and Labor Relations Review 36:1 (October 1982).
The first article shows that wage inequality (measured by the standard deviation of ln wages) is about 70-75% the level in unionized firms that it is in non-union firms. The second article shows that about half of this equalizing effect is explainable by union opposition to "merit pay" systems.
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Robert W. Goddard, "Is Your Appraisal System Headed for Court?" Personnel Journal (January 1989).
Written from a managerial perspective, this article is written to warn employers that instituting merit-pay systems can incur large legal costs from discrimination suits. The author writes: "Business workers, government employees, academics and even professional athletes are beginning to challenge not only the standards, but the process of performance evaluation, and with good reason. Current methods of appraising personal skill, knowledge, potential and overall work, by and large, are subjective and highly discriminatory. The result is a large majority of personnel decisions involving pay for performance... are based on arbitrary judgment rather than due process.... Casual or subjective performance appraisals, or both, increasingly are being cited by federal courts as evidence of promotion discrimination against minorities and women."
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In fact, many of the jobs eliminated are simply upgraded to Grade 10 positions, so that they can be filled by non-union officers, often doing the exact same work. Although the university claims "technology" has magically and impersonally moved the work into non-union occupations, the union job classification system includes job grades for such occupations as computer programming and administering mainframe computers.
Meanwhile, workers in other unions on campus, such as 1199 and TWU Local 241, have faced the same union-busting tactics. Over the last serveral years, Columbia has replaced many security officers with workers contracted out from Summit Security and Elite Investigations who make as little as $6 per hour. They have cut the Residence Halls cleaning staff by over 50% in the last 10 years, and hired the famous union-busting firm Aramark to supervise cleaning. If we let the administration have its way, where will it end?
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Work Study Students, Know Your Rights!
Federal law prohibits you from doing work that would normally be done by striking workers. So if you supervisor asks you to do the work of a striking 2110 member, not only do you not have to do it, but your supervisor is breaking both federal law and Columbia's Federal Work Study Agreement. Sec. 65-720, Subsection c-2 of that agreement states, "CWS employment may not (i) Impair existing service contracts; (ii) Displace employees; (iii) Fill jobs that are vacant because the employer's regular employees are on strike."
Replacing union workers is not just against the law. It destroys lives and families. It means lower wages and harder work for everyone. It is morally inexcusable. Don't do it!
If, in addition, you are able to stay out during the strike, the Administration has stated on its web pages that it will not discipline work-study students who refuse to cross the picket line. However, you will not be paid for the time you do not work.