In early 1999 student activists from the Progressive Student Alliance at UTK (at that time the group was known at the Alliance for Hope), along with some UTK faculty and community allies (particularly the labor-community group Jobs with Justice and the Tennessee Industrial Renewal Network) began exploring the creation of a “living wage campaign” for UT workers. A similar campaign was happening for Knoxville city employees, and it was felt that the same campaign would be needed for University of Tennessee employees.

Through discussions among this core group it was felt that a key component of this campaign was that actual UT workers should be in the leadership of it. This key value made the campaign different from other living wage campaigns, which were often lead by community activists and not the actual workers.

From these humble beginnings UCW has affiliated with the Communications Workers of America, grown into an organization of over 600 faculty and staff, and won numerous victories in the everyday lives of the folks that keep UT running on a daily basis.

Below are a list of some of the things we have been able to achieve so far. This is a work in progress; and we are working to add links to new stories on the victories where avaiable.

1999 - Early History of the UT Living Wage Campaign, and the Origins of UCW

• Spring- Planning committee forms to plan March 2000 teach-in, that would bring nationally recognized activists and intellectuals to educate the university community about labor and human rights.
• Summer- Several PSA activists attend the AFL-CIO’s “Union Summer” program, which gave student activists hands on training in grassroots organizing and building worker organizations.
• Fall- Committee forms to study the wage structure at UT and determine how many employees fall below the Living Wage threshold. It is led by UTK Religious Studies Professor David Linge and UTK social work student Kristi Disney.

2000 - Living Wage Campaign Kicks Off, Campus Workers Form Union

• February 2000- Ad hoc group, The UT Faculty and Staff Committee for Labor and Human Rights sends a letter to UT President Wade Gilley requesting he implement a Living Wage for UT’s workers. The president’s office issues no response to the letter.
• March 3, 2000- The “Labor Rights as Human Rights at Home and Abroad” teach-in kicks off with a rally of close to 500 students, staff, faculty, community supporters, led by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka. It starts at the University Center plaza and ends with a march to Andy Holt Tower, where a delegation goes to attempt to meet with UT President Gilley. The group meets with Phil Scheurer, who commits to setting up meetings with the group in the future.
• The 2000 Wage Study is released, revealing that 68% of UTK’s hourly employees make less than a Living Wage of $9.50 an hour with benefits.
• Shortly after the release of the 2000 Wage Study, Campus Workers for a Living Wage is formed. The group’s first leaders are Sandy Hicks and Ernestine Robinson, workers in the UTK Department of Housing.
• June- After months of pressure UT agrees to provide housekeepers and building maintenance workers with free hepatitis B vaccines. UCW defies nay-sayers and shows that through collective action change will happen.
• Efforts of UCW and the Living Wage Campaign win 4.75% pay raise with 12% for the lowest paid employees.

2001 - Organizing Continues, UCW Wins Anti-Privitization and Pay Victories

• Spring- UCW, working the students and community allies, defeats plans to privatize UTK Department of Housing.
• Summer- After beating back the threat of out-sourcing UCW activists turn their attention to stopping the practice of forced over-time during summer months in the Department of Housing. Union pressure wins a new over-time policy where housekeepers are able to individually choose how much overtime they are willing to work.
• UT employees receive a 4% raise, with the lowest paid receiving 5.3% as the efforts of UCW’s push for a Living Wage on campus continue to gain ground.

2002 - Justice for Van Drivers, Back Pay After Furlough

• Summer- UCW wins 8-month transfer period for laid-off UTK van drivers and dispatchers after campus van service is privatized.
• July 5- After a state government shut down and week-long furlough of all “non-essential” employees, UCW brings strong pressure to bear on President Shumaker and wins back-pay for UT employees.

2003 - UCW Joins Communications Workers

• United Campus Workers affiliates with the 750,000 member Communications Workers of America, officially becoming UCW-CWA Local 3865.

2004 - Faculty Activism Heats up with UCW-CWA Chapter at UT Chattanooga and Lecturers Caucus

• Spring- Faculty from UT Chattanooga contact United Campus Workers about organizing. After several meetings the independent faculty group forms the UTC chapter of United Campus Workers, led by Dr. Shela Van Ness, Sociology, Pedro Campa, Languages, and Fritz Efaw, Economics.
• Summer- UCW-CWA’s Lecturers Caucus, with leadership from Elizabeth Gentry (Lecturer in English, UTK) and Pamela Schoenewaldt (Lecturer in English, UTK) wins the inclusion of part-time lecturers in the state mandated 3% across-the-board raise.

2005 - Union Gets Active in State Capitol

• UCW introduces bill in Tennessee state legislature (SB 790 and HB 126) to give a $1200 pay raise to all UT employees. The bills fails to pass, but it pushes the union’s agenda in Nashville and is a major historic event, as the first time university employees in Tennessee introduce a bill for pay raises.
• UCW introduces historic legislation to allow public employees in Tennessee the ability to pay dues through payroll deduction to the union of their choice.
• UT Administration is able to ram through a “merit pay first and only” scheme for UT faculty in the Legislature. This plan grew out of UT’s new president John Petersen’s belief that cost of living raises should be replaced by so-called “pay for performance” despite wide-spread criticism stemming from a lack of clear evaluative standards, transparency, and wide-spread practices of favoritism. This scheme splits funds allocated by the Legislature into a 1.5% across-the-board raise and 1.5% pool to be used for so-called “merit” pay.
• UCW’s efforts in Nashville result including the first legislated flat dollar minimum raise, or “floor,” in the Appropriations Bill. All staff employees receive a raise of 3% or $750 - whichever is greater.

2006 - Union Confronts Bad Merit Pay Program, Membership Continues to Grow

• Summer- The state legislature passes a budget with a two-tier pay raise- 3% and compression pay monies for state agency employees and only a 2% pay raise for workers at the state’s higher education institutions.
• The pay situation for faculty worsens further as the General Assembly allows Petersen to split the funded 2% pay increase into a 1% across-the-board raise and a 1% “merit” pool.
• UCW-CWA’s legislative work ensures that once again a flat dollar minimum raise is included in the budget for low-paid staff. The tireless work of UCW-CWA members sees to it that the numbers of employees affected by the floor increase by raising the cut-off to less than $30,000 a year, up from the previous level of only less than $25,000.

2007 - UCW-CWA Wins Major Pay Victories for Faculty and Staff

• UCW, especially the faculty of our UT Chattanooga chapter heavily lobbies the state legislature demanding that adequate cost of living raises MUST be given first before any so-called “merit raises.” The union succeeds in reversing the Petersen pay plan, as all faculty receive the 3% across the board pay raise. This victory would not have happened had it not been for UCW advocacy in Nashville.
• After 2006’s two tier raise, UCW-CWA lobbying efforts win higher education employees the same pay raise as other state workers. At UT the 3% pay raise includes the largest minimum raise in recent memory - 3% or $900 whichever is greater.
• Fall- UCW-CWA launches the 2008 Campaign for UT’s Working Families. This campaign puts forward the calls for real cost of living raises, compression pay and overtime pay for Agricultural Workers.

2008 - Campaign for UT’s Working Families, Work Continues

• January- UCW-CWA’s achieves a truly historic victory, winning overtime pay for over 110 “agricultural production” workers at the UT Institute of Agriculture. This reverses decades of denying these workers overtime pay on the basis of a discreditable legal loophole to US wage and hour law. It is also the first victory for The 2008 Campaign for UT’s Working Families.