One crucial group of the Emory community was overlooked in Emory’s initial COVID-19 response: hourly workers. In an email sent on March 27, Emory announced that they will continue to pay subcontracted dining employees through the end of the semester — while we certainly support this move, it is insufficient and exclusionary. Emory should expand payments to include all subcontracted workers and simplify the process for workers applying for financial assistance.
Emory’s announcement came after a petition calling for the continued payment of Emory food service workers reached 400 signatures in several days. The petition stated that approximately 200 dining workers were left not knowing what would happen to their pay for the remainder of the semester for 15 days, which is longer than an average pay cycle.
Emory’s move alleviates, but does not eliminate, the financial insecurity currently staring down its subcontracted, hourly and part-time employees. Workers such as shuttle drivers and janitors form the backbone of our university, ensuring that day-to-day operation takes place both smoothly and safely. Those employees are still working their usual jobs, albeit with limited hours, while most of the University is shut down. As the unemployment rate is expected to spike to 30% in the coming months, these workers need some level of economic security to protect themselves and their families and to return to work once the crisis is over.
To ease these workers’ uncertainties about their futures, Emory should immediately commit to paying all employees and subcontracted staff throughout the duration of the semester as Harvard University (Mass.) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are doing for their employees. We applaud the Emory student groups, including EmoryUnite! and Young Democratic Socialists of America at Emory, who have raised awareness about this issue through petitions and social media postings.
The principal tool that Emory will use to continue paying hourly workers is an expansion of the Emory Together Fund, with which administrators hope to support students, faculty and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. This fund is expected to exceed $5 million. The Emory Together Fund, while expansive, is not enough to protect Emory staff’s long-term well-being.
Along with the similar Student Hardship Fund, University administrators established a Faculty and Staff Hardship Fund in March to further support workers who find themselves temporarily unemployed. Although there are discrepancies between the amounts of these funds — the Student Hardship Fund is about eight times larger than the Faculty and Staff Hardship Fund — their simultaneous creation reveals where the Emory administration’s priorities lie. Subcontracted employees, an integral part of Emory’s workforce, do not have access to such a fund as the University outsources their labor. Therefore, Emory should be advocating on behalf of all subcontracted employees — as they did with Bon Appétit for dining employees — to ensure they also receive regular benefits and earnings for the rest of the semester.
Moreover, the wide gap in donations between the Student Hardship Fund and the Faculty and Staff Hardship Fund provide no guarantee that the goals of such a lofty campaign will be met.
Therein lies the issue with voluntary donations: donors can choose to whom their funds will be allocated, and during such a critical pandemic and economic recession, the annual cycle of donor fundraising becomes incredibly unreliable. As long as the pandemic’s duration remains uncertain, Emory should incorporate the Faculty and Staff Hardship Fund into its regular financial planning so that they are not caught unprepared by future crises.
Emory’s seemingly vast umbrella of funds also further obfuscates the mission and intended recipients of each fund, which, consequently, risks handicapping the number of donations. Emory’s succinct explanation of whom each fund is aiding, the intended purpose of the funds and any peculiarities of the funding structure such as donor matching is crucial. Without clarity, potential donors will have to individually research and determine which fund best suits their targeted goals, a potentially time-consuming process that will suppress donor turnout and funding levels.
University President Claire E. Sterk has stated previously, with the announcement of the “One Emory” project in 2018, that one of her goals is to “make Emory truly part of the civic fabric of Atlanta,” and to “ensure that Emory contributes to what Atlanta needs.” As Atlanta’s largest employer, Emory is in a consequential position to ensure thousands of Atlanta’s workers receive paychecks and benefits. In this moment of great need, Emory must uphold its obligations, fulfill Sterk’s goals and support its workers themselves rather than rely on generous donations during this unprecedented crisis.
Emory must ensure that more of its subcontracted employees will be protected until the end of the semester, and it must incorporate the resulting costs into its regular budget rather than rely on donations. Otherwise, the University will have abandoned one of the most critical yet most vulnerable groups in our community at their time of greatest need.
The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board.
The Editorial Board is composed of Sean Anderson, Brammhi Balarajan, Zach Ball, Devin Bog, Jake Busch, Meredith McKelvey, Andrew Kliewer, Boris Niyonzima, Nick Pernas and Ben Thomas.
The Editorial Board is the official voice of the Emory Wheel and is editorially separate from the Wheel's board of editors.
