Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Working Hard and Hardly Paid: Interviews With Hourly Staff at A Catholic College
Working Hard and Hardly Paid: Interviews With Hourly Staff at A Catholic College
Living Wage
The South Bend Living Wage for one adult and one child is $13.30
per hour
“Let the working man and the employer make free arrangements, and, in
particular let them agree freely to the wages; nevertheless there underlines a
dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between
man and man, namely that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal
and well-behaved wage-earner. If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the
workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford
him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice”.
Literature Review
The Sociology of the Working Poor
Community/Family support
Edin and Lein (1997)
(Not) Making it
Erenreich (2001)
Mellow (1981)
Methods for Data Collection
Building Services 14 33 47
Building Services 4 2 6
Attendant
Clerk/Secretary/Administrati 2 75 77
ve assistant Staff Assistant
Building Service 3 - 3
Managerial
Technicians 4 - 4 Total 9 3 12
Total 39 114 153
Findings
A “Drama Life”
“I don’t want to make forty dollars more a month if when the new building
comes we have to run on two people and pull people from where?
Where? It’s gotta be balanced out”.
Findings
“Overworked and Under Paid”
“The pay is crap, but they’re the best benefits I’ve ever
had”
7 informants revealed
a circumstance where
another Saint Mary’s
colleague showed
selfless loyalty
Donation acceptance
“I have some neighbors that were really cool about
letting me go to their church…bread shower supplies,
whatever…once in awhile I will do that”.
Discussion
Despite working at Saint Mary’s for many years, the hourly staff
are living paycheck to paycheck and therefore, never have the
opportunity to accumulate wealth, thus their impoverished
position becomes a permanent state.