Solidarity Statement: UNC Housekeepers
The housekeepers at UNC-Chapel Hill are the backbone of the University. They carried our community through the pandemic and work tirelessly to ensure a beautiful, sanitary campus for all.
Though UNC may claim that the housekeepers are “essential” workers, the administration’s actions do not match their talking points. In response to years of poor working conditions and insufficient pay, 21 housekeepers gathered on September 8 to say they’d had enough. They wrote handwritten testimonials detailing their mistreatment and abuse at UNC-CH, excerpts of which were included in this newspaper and on our social media.
Their demands stem from low pay, constant overwork, and high parking fees, which force housekeepers to pay to work. As the Daily Tar Heel reported, housekeepers at UNC-CH are paid between $31,200 and $41,234 a year, which is far below the annual median household income for single-income earners in North Carolina of $53,687. On average, rent makes up 44% of a housekeeper’s monthly salary (far above national guidelines). On top of this, parking fees for employees can cost between $452-$596 a year, with additional fees for weeknight permits.
The pay issues come after many housekeepers at UNC-CH, alongside other University workers, fought for protections during the COVID pandemic. Housekeepers were not informed if students in the dorms they cleaned had tested positive and were not provided with adequate health protections – many were asked to make one mask last for a week or more. The housekeepers noted that while the University said they were essential employees, they did not receive extra pay or support.
This is not the first time housekeepers at UNC have organized; UNC housekeepers today face similar issues as in the 1990s. At that time, housekeepers, who were about 90% Black and 70% women, faced poverty wages, high workloads, limited promotions and training, and institutional racism. They formed the UNC Housekeepers’ Association with help from Black Workers For Justice, a grassroots group that fights racial discrimination in workplaces across the South. Led by housekeeper Barbara Prear, the housekeepers filed a suit against the University in 1991, arguing that their poor working conditions and low wages were a vestige of slavery. At the time, the starting salary for housekeepers was $11,600, approximately $1,500 below the federal poverty line. In 1996, the Housekeepers Association and UNC settled the lawsuit, and the housekeepers received $1 million in back pay and benefits, as well as the right to meet and discuss workplace issues with the Chancellor. The Housekeepers’ Association joined the independent NC Public Service Workers Union, which soon after joined the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers, better known as UE.
The Workers Union at UNC continues to meet weekly with housekeepers and support their efforts in whatever ways possible. We call on UNC-CH to take immediate action in addressing the housekeepers’ demands:
End pay-to-work policies
Increase wages via cost of living adjustments to a minimum of $20/hr.
We call on all workers, administrators, and students to stand alongside the housekeepers in their struggle, because the simple fact is that UNC works because they do. If you’d like to support the housekeepers, you can sign their petition here: https://bit.ly/UNCHousekeepers
UE 150: The Workers Union at UNC
[1] https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2022/09/university-housekeeping-week
[2] https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2022/09/university-housekeeping-week
[3] https://www.dailytarheel.com/article/2022/09/university-housekeeping-week
[4] “Hooker pleased with Houskeepers’ Offer,” The Daily Tar Heel, 23 August 1996. https://unchistory.web.unc.edu/building-narratives/cheek-clark-building
[5] “Housekeepers look to day in court after five years of controversy,” The Daily Tar Heel, 18 September 1996. https://unchistory.web.unc.edu/building-narratives/cheek-clark-building/