Student wages on campus lower than private sector

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Daily Wildcat Betty Baker (left) and Paula Ruiz serve food yesterday afternoon at the Fiddlee Fig in the Memorial Student Union. Non-student workers like Baker and Ruiz often earn higher wages than student workers performing similar tasks.

"We don't make anything!" said Kelly Huber, an environmental science sophomore who works at the Union Square Cafe in the Memorial Student Union. "Anyone who works here who is a student makes minimum wage."

Working on campus may be more practical, but low wages are a disadvantage that student employees encounter when hired by departments on campus.

"We pay minimum wage," said Joseph Dimercurio, senior business manager of student business affairs. "Everything that we do follows university guidelines."

Minimum wage is $4.75 per hour. It will increase to $5.15 per hour Sept. 1.

The University of Arizona Student Employment Manual outlines a rate of pay ranges.

According to the manual, student employees are divided in to groups A, B and C depending on level of experience, difficulty of job and education, group A being the lowest and C the highest.

Although group A employees may be paid anywhere between $4.75 and $7.25 per hour, most campus jobs seem to fall into the lower range of the scale.

Leslie Porter, UA human resources operations coordinator, said employee's wages depend on each department's discretion.

"That's driven by the types of positions they (the departments) have available and what the budget can cover," Porter said.

Porter said a lot of the staff titles don't have one that compares to jobs held by students. She said classified staff employees (non-students) go through a more rigorous application process than students.

"You're talking about apples and oranges," Porter said.

At Louie's Lower Level however, being a student may lead to a lower wage.

Adeel Hussain, a management information systems freshman, has been working at Louie's for two months. He makes $4.75 an hour and his job entitles taking customer orders, serving chicken nuggets and working the grill occasionally. Hussain works 10 hours a week.

Across the counter from Hussain, Claudia Salazar, 23, takes orders for the grill. She is paid $5.81 an hour and works 121/2 hours a week. She was hired by Louie's in September and is not a UA student.

"Everyone at this place does everything," Salazar said.

Jerry Groch, cash operations manager for Memorial Student Union Dining Services, said "mixing students and non-students is not like apples and apples."

Groch said reliability, some experience, a class schedule that meets the hours available for work and character are factors that determine how much a student employee gets paid.

"A lot of students can't work whenever you need them," Groch said.

Even though Salazar is not a student, she said she is not always available to work extra hours at Louie's because she has another job.

Groch said student leads are paid 75 cents to a dollar more than regular students because they are in charge. Student leads are employees who have shown initiative and leadership skills, he said.

"We realize student's pay is not where it should be, and we're working on it," Groch said.

Nydia Castro, a journalism sophomore who works for Student Union Catering, said students get paid less than regular staff for catering in the Memorial Student Union.

"Just because we're students does not mean that we should get taken advantage of," Castro said.

"I think we should get paid the same amount since we're doing the exact same job as them and most of the times we have to work longer and harder than the temps (temporary workers)," Castro said.

Mike Wetzel, senior supervisor of dining services, said there isn't a lot of difference between what students and non-students are paid in the catering department.

"Right now they're all starting at $4.75," he said. "That's all we can afford."

Wetzel said 50 UA students, six high school students and 12 full-time classified staff cater on campus.

In addition to students and other employees, Wetzel said catering hires temporary workers.

"We use employees from agencies for banquets," he said. "It's a one-day deal."

Differences in wages on campus jobs may also depend on job responsibilities and work conditions.

Cindy Hawk, operations manager of the UA Associated Students Bookstore, said warehouse employees get paid more than sales floor workers because of work conditions.

"Students are paid a different rate than other employees," Hawk said.

Most students working for the bookstore are paid $4.75 an hour and professional staff members are paid $5.33 an hour, she said, because wages are based on responsibility required for each job.

Although students earn less, Hawk said they save money by not paying social security other workers have to pay, which amounts to 7.6 percent of the employee's salary.

Hawk also said students can move up to the professional level based on their performance. In addition to that, student employees are given a raise after three months, based on performance.

"After three months they're all making more than minimum wage," she said.

Brian Carswell, interim director of campus recreation, said no group A student employee makes $7.25, the maximum pay established by the UA Student Employment Manual. Carswell said this is mainly due to what the budget allows campus recreation to pay its employees.

Within walking distance from the university, UA students have found jobs that pay more than those on campus. At the Marriott University Park Hotel on 880 E. Second St., Melissa Tingle, a family studies junior, earns $6.33 an hour to work at the front registration lounge of the hotel.

Tingle said there are quite a few students working at the hotel as bellmen, front desk receptionists and banquet servers.

"They pay more than anything on campus," she said.

Denise Espinoza, human resource administrator for the hotel, said one-third of the hotel's employees are students.

"We came up with a very competitive policy," she said. "Whether they are students or not, it's the same (pay)," Espinoza said.

According to an informational sheet that lists the jobs available at the hotel, starting wages for food-related jobs pay $5.20 an hour for kitchen utility positions; $6.15 an hour for preparation cook positions; and $8 an hour for banquet servers. All three jobs are available for part-time workers, the sheet states.

Espinoza said students and non-students are paid the same, but full-time employees get medical insurance.

Student employees at the 7 Eleven at 1750 E. Speedway Blvd. are also paid wages comparable to those of non-students, manager Pat Klein said.

She said three UA students work at the 7 Eleven and they are paid $4.75, $5.25 and $6, depending on how long each person has worked there and their job performance.

At Jack in the Box, 934 E. Speedway Blvd., starting wages for all employees are $4.90 an hour, said manager Steve Morrow. Employees who work at night are paid more, $5.25, Morrow said.

The 1995 Pima County Employer Wage Survey, by the Arizona Department of Economic Security, shows that the county's average wage for jobs commonly held by students is higher than campus wages.

According to the survey, the average hourly wage for a retail salesperson in the county is $7.53; for counter attendants, $6.84; for restaurant cooks, $6.71; and for food preparation workers, $5.41.

While students may complain about hard work and low pay, Orlando Macias, director of the Arizona State Labor Department, said there is nobody who regulates wages at all.

"The only thing the law requires is that they pay minimum wage," said Richard Quezada, an investigator for the Federal Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.