About 30 Towson University students and faculty marched across campus on Tuesday to demand a living wage for the school's housekeeping workers. The march, organized by the Student Worker Alliance of Towson (SWAT) concluded with a short but loud demonstration outside the Towson administration building. SWAT members chanted "Living Wage Now!" while curious university staff peeked out through closed blinds. The rally concluded shortly before campus police arrived on the scene.

The demonstration was the first step in the action phase of SWAT's campaign for a living wage. On December 6 a meeting was held with school representative Jeff Sutton in which 1,100 petitions signed in support of a living wage for employees of Aramark at Towson were presented. SWAT plans to continue measures to increase awareness on campus, but will focus on pushing administration to improve conditions for workers.

A living wage is defined as a rate of pay equal to the cost of living, generally considered to be about $8.50 hourly in Baltimore. However, a 1999 survey of worker wages at nine area colleges and hospitals found that Towson workers were the lowest paid, earning under $12,000 to $13,000 yearly, or about $6.50 hourly.

SWAT has spent the semester building relationships with workers and promoting student awareness through classroom presentations and collecting signatures of students supporting the campaign. Also, small groups of workers and students called "SWAT teams" were formed to address specific problems.

In late October, an Aramark worker appreciation party sponsored by SWAT allowed workers to discuss issues they felt needed to be addressed including management, fair pay, equipment, and health care benefits.

Gregory Mullins, a five-year Aramark employee, voiced his concerns about management.

"If somebody I work with gets fired, and I take their job, [management] says they'll find someone to replace me. They keep telling me to hold on, and meanwhile I'm doing the work of two people. Every time I see them they say they're still looking for someone."

Phillip Venable, an employee who works in the administration building, said workers are not adequately paid for the work they do.

"If two people do a job and one person doesn't come in, the job still gets done," Venable said. "If we're one minute late they dock us an hour. If you punch out early you lose an hour. Somebody's getting rich and it's not the Aramark workers," he said.

Lolita Evans, a former Aramark employee, said she felt more benefits should be made available to workers.

"I'm here to support my cousin who is living paycheck to paycheck with no health insurance. These are people who need it; they have kids who need checkups," Evans said.

Towson housekeepers lost their status as state employees in 1981 in a cost-cutting move by the University which revoked their claim to the same pay and health care benefits as other staff. In the mid 1980s Towson began contracting with Aramark for housekeeping services. Employees' wages and benefits are negotiated every three years through a separate contract between Aramark and the worker's union, but because Aramark is responsible only to the University, it is often most effective for students to go through administration to push issues.

In 1996 the union representing TU Aramark workers appealed to faculty and staff for help obtaining improved pay and benefits for workers. In 1998, the University Senate adopted a resolution supporting a living wage and adequate health care for all housekeepers, urging the University to support the same measures in renegotiating its contract with Aramark in 2000. However, during a review of the contract in 2000, Towson officials declined to return housekeepers to state employee status.

During 1999 contract negotiations, Aramark and union representatives were unable to agree on terms of benefits, and none were included. However, in Fall 2000, the union obtained a reopener: a one-month window to renegotiate the issue.

With one or two weeks remaining, Aramark still refused to set a date to meet with the union, and at that time the TU Living Wage Campaign collected about 600 signatures and led students on a march to the TU administration building in support of workers. Aramark was forced to talk with the union, resulting in individual health benefits for workers at a cost of $8 a week. However, health benefits are still not available for the families of workers, and currently only 30 out of 120 employees pay for the individual plan.

In 2000, Aramark won a five-year contract with the University for $23.5 million, renewable for five additional years. Still, when Aramark's contract with the union expired on Sept. 1 of this year, the company was reluctant to increase wages, offering raises that will have most workers making under $8 in 2004. Though dissatisfied with the offer, because workers were not organized to strike, they had little choice but to vote to accept the terms.

If organized, workers may not only be able to obtain better wages and health benefits, but could possibly negotiate a contract in which employees' requests for a GED program, new equipment, childcare, and a scholarship fund for employees' children are met.

"I've been talking about this to my friends. It blows me away; no one has ever fought for me for my money. If Towson University doesn't get behind [the students] it's a tragedy," Venable said.

"Somebody is seeing the work that we're doing and standing by us, and I'll do all I can to stand by them. We'll stand side by side," Lillie Lewis, a 13-year Aramark employee, said.