Rachel Makarowski, Special Collections Librarian, spoke at FAM’s Rally for Raises on September 20, 2024 about how Miami leadership has been trying to strip protections from the librarians who make Miami run:
A few months ago, when Management first came out with their compensation counter — there were a lot of eyebrows and outrage that were raised in the libraries. After two years without raises — that was their starting point? Librarians already knew Management didn’t value us, but is really what they felt we were worth?
When all things are considered, Librarians do not ask for much. What do we want from our compensation article? It’s not much, though perhaps it sounds radical to those holding the purse strings. We believe we should be able to afford:
- Basic needs, such as food and clothing
- Paying off student loan debt
- Vacations
- A home
- Children (if you choose), or
- To live on your income as a single person
We deserve to be able to live a life that doesn’t demand that we barely scrape by every month. We deserve to be able to live a life where we can afford the little moments and memories that make life worth living. This is what FAM’s compensation proposal is born of: imagining what life would look like if we had raises that kept up with inflation, what it would be like if we were able to ensure that pay was equitable and fair. FAM’s proposal would ensure this vision — with 7% raises each year, established salary floors, and identifying and addressing pay inquiries. FAM’s proposal is objectively reasonable.
“Objectively reasonable” is not a random choice of words. This was how management has described their own compensation proposal. One with a scant 1.25% raise per annum. One with lower promotional increases. No salary floors for librarians. Meanwhile, the University is bringing in a surplus of $109 million per year. This past year, they spent over $400,000 on legal advice about negotiations, and are spending much more on two separate law firms to negotiate their contracts with us. They are bringing this money in based on the work we, the librarians and faculty, do and the reputation that we, the librarians and faculty, have built for this university.
We deserve better. We are the ones who serve as the backbone of this university. We are the ones who ensure that students learn critical skills including information literacy, so they can identify misinformation and disinformation in the digital age. We are the ones constantly learning new tools and technologies and helping to integrate them so that our libraries can remain on the cutting edge as universities evolve. We are the ones who dedicate our lives to serving students and faculty in their research — while conducting our own research.
We have gone above and beyond: inventing ways to do more with less; identifying and obtaining grants that bring in thousands of dollars into this university; teaching courses for little to no compensation; creating new programs and workshops to meet students where their needs are; attending conferences with our own money so that we can connect with colleagues across the country (and world) about how we can better serve our students and faculty. But Management refuses to pay us our worth.
Today, we demand that management give us the raises they have refused to grant us — for all the hours we put in, for all the care we give, for all the knowledge we entrust to the next generation, it’s time for management to pay us our worth. We demand they give us a fair compensation proposal that will allow us to live! We demand that management STOP STALLING and get this deal DONE. We are willing to do whatever it takes. Together we cannot be stopped. Together, we cannot be silenced. Together, we will WIN.
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