IU Employee Wages
The Indiana minimum wage that the Bloomington area adopted, which was described in the article from class, applies to Indiana University employees. I work at the IU golf course, and recently talked to my boss about the minimum wage that he is required to pay his course maintenance employees. He notified me that the University mandates a $9 minimum wage for these employees. This wage however is much higher than what I started out at in a golf course in Ft. Wayne, IN that I worked at with basically the same duties. So, my question is if you think the University is being somewhat careless with its money in paying this high of a wage in an area with a relatively cheap standard of living? Although it benefits me, I feel the University is not being economically efficient with how it distributes some of their employee wages. I know this is not a very popular topic, but thought it was relevant to the discussion we had in class.
posted by Nick Hursh at
9:55 PM
2 Comments:
That is a really interesting post, Nick. I have a similar situation and I've never really thought about the disparities in the two jobs I hold at IU.
I am a student supervisor for an RPS cafe and I make just under $9. Even as a regular student, I believe you begin around $7. However, my job with Recreational Sports, I make only $6.80 (that's with regular 10 cent raises). It is also the reason I really don't work there as much as I do at the cafe.
So my point is, both are university jobs, but the pay and duties are vastly differerent. For example, I have to be regularly certified in Standard First Aid, CPR, and AED use. I deal with accidents, fights, etc, pretty often--you would think the pay would be much higher.
It does seem as though the university is being inefficient; both in terms of the pay disparity with both jobs as well as the higher pay for a relatively easy job. Not that I'm complaining.
Nick, the point you make about the economic efficiency of the golf course is an interesting one. I recall reading from other various sources that the university's golf course has been a drain of the funds reserved for the athletic department. However, there are other variables that go into making a decision on how much to pay an employee. Perhaps finding an employee with previous experience working at a golf course is difficult? However, I think that the University has a right to determine what minimum wage it pays its own employees. While the golf course may be losing money, perhaps their are other ways to turn it around financially. Perhaps the issue relating to wages is rather small when compared to the spending/advertising budget of the golf course.
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