Take a Virtual Tour and See What It’s Like to Work Hard—and Live in Poverty

by James Parks, Aug 31, 2008

Service workers at the University of California’s (UC’s) 10 campuses and five medical centers have been trying for more than a year to negotiate a deal that would pay them a decent wage. The workers are paid so little that a recent study found as many as 96 percent of them can qualify for at least one form of public assistance.

Higher gas prices and stagnant wages are creating a crisis for many of these workers who must live paycheck to paycheck. Now, the workers are getting the message out about what it’s like to live in poverty. They invited elected officials and faith leaders into their homes to see for themselves the impact of poverty wages on their lives and their families. (Take a virtual tour of UC-created poverty through the video above or visit the Facing Poverty at UC website here.)

On the video, you’ll meet workers like Leonor Orozco, a senior custodian at the UC Irvine Medical Center. After working at UC for five years, she makes only $24,000 a year. The only place she can afford to live is in a one-bedroom apartment, which she shares with her three daughters and one grandchild.

The apartment building is infested with rats and cockroaches, forcing Orozco to continually spend her meager salary buying rat traps. Her oldest daughter, Venus, who has a part-time job, says she gives her mother about half of her paycheck so she can pay bills.

In the video, Orozco says:

I feel very disillusioned. The [UC] administration does not value the work we do. I invite the administrators to come and get to know my home to see if it doesn’t give them shame to know that we need this raise. That it’s not for pleasure.

Last month, some 8,500 UC service workers went on a five-day strike to demand better pay and a fair contract. The workers, members of AFSCME Local 3299, include housekeepers, cafeteria workers and those who disinfect hospital equipment.

They are seeking a pay increase to $15 an hour. University officials offered to increase wages to between $11.50 and $12 an hour. But the workers rejected the offer—and for good reason.

A recent study by the Center for Labor & Community Research and the Partnership for Working Families showed UC workers are paid 25 percent less than workers at other California hospitals and campuses.

Yet, top executives at the UC medical center recently pocketed big raises and bonuses. According to a Local 3299 fact sheet, the salaries of medical center CEOs and chief nursing officers (CNOs) were increased by up to 39 percent in the fall. The CEOs and CNOs also received bonuses of up to $83,000—a one-time payment in addition to any salary increase. 

Says state Sen. Leland Yee:

It saddens me that UC continues to be so, so disrespectful towards its employees, particularly those individuals who are in the service area. Every time there is an attempt to try and make their lives a little better, the university continues to push them back.

The issue is clear to Jaron Quetal, a storekeeper who makes $29,000 after working at UCLA for nine years. In the video, he says:

Everybody complains about gas….Let’s talk about food. I have to feed myself. I gotta to feed my kid. It takes a good amount of money to do that. I don’t feel that working a full-time job I should be reduced to eating soup every night.

Am I going to buy him some shoes and short myself on gas and take the bus to work? Or do I ask my mom, my dad, who are going through the same thing as I am for help? It’s not fun.

As a service worker (am) I not important enough to be paid a livable wage?

To learn more about the workers’ campaign and to tell UC officials to pay a living wage, click here.

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