AKRON, Ohio — The University of Akron is increasing pay for its lowest-paid employees to $15 an hour. Roughly 67 union and non-union workers will see a raise ranging from $1 to $5 for workers who were making the state minimum wage of $9.30 an hour.
The wage hike comes as the board of trustees negotiated a new contract with the Communications Workers of America Union on campus. The change will apply for university wide for employees who work directly for the university.
“In this inflationary period that we have, it just puts increased pressure, on the whole, the whole population,” said the university’s chief financial officer Dallas Grundy. “We are like many places of employment; certainly higher education institutions are feeling the effects of this current labor market that we're in.
The increase will not apply to student workers or anyone working for independent contractors, which staff amenities like the dining halls.
“I compare higher education to that of a small city because we're feeding people, we're housing people,” Grundy said. “ We’re buying energy and power, all of those materials and non-Labor expenses that are required to run the university.”
The university budgeted about $188,000 for the increase in costs this year. While there is no set plan for students, Grundy said they are exploring options for the future. The State of Ohio will introduce a wage increase in January 2023 that will raise the minimum wage from $9.30 to $10.10 per hour, in which students will see a bump in pay.
“We’re just hoping that with this kind of movement and increase before the holiday will have some impact, some positive impact on households, incomes, and family situations,” Grundy said.
