Students celebrate victory in getting better wages for campus workers

Published: 2005-05-04

ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- Washington University students and their supporters gathered at the Catholic Student Center across from the campus April 22 to celebrate a "victory for justice" after university officials agreed to spend at least $1 million in the next two years to increase salaries and benefits for service workers. The students from the St. Louis university formed the Student Worker Alliance, which conducted a 19-day sit-in and a six-day hunger strike before an agreement was made with the school to improve campus workers' rights and obtain higher wages and better benefits for lower-paid workers employed by contractors providing janitorial, cafeteria and other services at the school. The campaign was similar to an eight-day hunger strike conducted in March by students at Jesuit-run Georgetown University in Washington for a living wage for workers. That effort ended with an agreement to increase workers' hourly wages from $11.33 to $13.

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