University of Wisconsin Chancellor John Wiley signed a Limited Term Employee policy into effect earlier this month, but some questions were raised recently about the details of the plan.
The policy aims to increase Limited Term Employee wages to a living wage and convert the majority of LTE positions to Full Time Employee positions so LTEs are not used as inexpensive labor in a full-time capacity. Living wage is an hourly rate defined by the City of Madison as the rate needed to support a family of four.
The Madison living wage is currently $10.23 per hour, but come January will rise to meet the federal living wage of $10.62 per hour.
Mari Lafore, who has been an LTE at UW for 11 years and is a part-time student at Madison Area Technical College, was not receiving living wage because of a specific clause in the policy that said LTEs who are simultaneously students at other colleges such as MATC and Edgewood College are not eligible to receive living wage.
Lafore said she does not know any other LTEs who were denied living wage due to their student status.
"I don't want to have to fight this alone, but I think it's unfair," Lafore said. "I've worked in like every unit, and I don't want them to think I'm some evil troublemaker because I'm not — I just want to know what's going on."
Wisconsin Union Director Mark Guthier said the Wisconsin Union granted LTEs living wage long before the rest of the UW campus — which will follow the union's suit by July 2007.
"We're very pleased with how the whole implementation of the higher wage went this month," Guthier said. "Unfortunately … one person got caught up in a definition mistake and we will move quickly to solve that."
Lafore said she is three credits away from graduating from MATC, and had actually thought about dropping out in order to earn living wage until she found out Guthier and UW Director of Classified Human Resources Mark Walters will be discussing her situation this week.
"I was overjoyed," Lafore said. "[T]his is wonderful, this is going to be great. I can pay off my student loans because I have student loans, too."
Walters said the situation in which LTEs with student status at colleges besides UW is one that was never discussed before the new policy was implemented, and he will be meeting with Guthier today to discuss Lafore's pay.
Guthier said he said Lafore will receive living wage, effective immediately. Guthier added he was not aware of any similar situations, but if anybody were in the same situation as Lafore, he would be happy to take the same action.
