Today at 7 am, six members of the Living Wage Campaign met with University administrators for a second time to discuss the question of a living wage for all employees at UVA. Although we met for an hour and a half, we made NO progress toward implementing any meaningful changes. Instead, the University made clear that they still refused to negotiate with the Campaign, or to seriously consider changing their policies toward low-wage employees. Having now spent a total of three and a half hours meeting with administrators since the hunger strike began, we are not even close to a living wage.

The Living Wage Campaign is deeply disappointed by the continuing inaction of our administration. They say that they regard us as simply another interest group to whom they will politely listen. What they don’t understand – what they have never understood – is that we are much more than simply a student organization. We are a coalition of community, faculty, students, and staff, and now labor unions, and we are absolutely committed to holding this university accountable for their labor practices: We Are A Movement.

People’s lives are at stake. The university talks about budget priorities, we talk about children growing up not knowing their parents because they work three jobs to get by. The university talks about education benefits, we talk about people forced to make a choice between paying the rent and buying diabetes medication. We would hope that even an opponent of the campaign would concede that equal work deserves equal pay and that the university shouldn’t create a lower class of invisible contract employees, but this has not been the case. Instead, what we have in response to more than a decade of activism, research, and work, and now a hunger strike, is a statement that they may take action to gather information on labor issues.

This is not enough! The Living Wage Campaign rejects the response of the administration as sufficient and will continue to hunger strike. We emerge with renewed energy, purpose, and support. We will not let this issue rest until UVA does right by its employees.