While San Francisco minimum-wage earners are getting pay raises, SF State work-study employees will be left out, but many said they will remain in the program.

California State University Chancellor Charles Reed said the SF State work-study program is not subject to the recently approved minimum wage increase, but SF State administrators are still considering increasing wages for work-study employees.

San Francisco voters approved Proposition L with 59.6 percent in favor on Nov. 4, raising the city’s minimum wage from $6.75 to $8.50 an hour. But the CSU work-study program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education and therefore not subject to the new law.

According to Pino Serrano, media spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor, “Federal and state employees are exempt from local labor wages.”

The chancellor’s legal council determined SF State’s work-study program falls under the jurisdiction of the federal government and is therefore exempt from the new law, Clara Potes-Fellow, CSU public affairs spokeswoman said.

“The CSU is not subject to the new minimum wage approved by San Francisco voters, however, Chancellor Reed supports the campus initiative to develop a strategy to address minimum wage issues for students participating in the work-study program at San Francisco State,” Potes-Fellow said.

Even if they can get higher paying jobs off campus, many SF State work-study employees who currently make less than $8.50 an hour said they would remain at their current jobs. They said the benefits of work-study outweigh the benefits of making a couple extra dollars an hour.

“I like it here,” said Chris Salcedo, 22, who works in the library’s periodical section. “I’m pretty much content with this job. I’m pretty much guaranteed $2,000 a semester, so it doesn’t really matter to me, though it would be nice to make more money.”

Salcedo has worked at libraries for three years and doesn’t just work there for the money. He actually likes it. “I’m good at it, I guess,” he said.

Amber Fernandes, 19, works the information desk at Student Health Services. She said, “I will stay because my financial aid is affected by it.” She said she will not be eligible for financial aid if she makes too much money, so she is safe doing work-study. Other benefits, she said, keep her happy; there are the flexible hours and very little money is taken out for taxes.

Work-study employees are allowed to earn only $2,000 a semester and then they need to either quit their job or work out new payment arrangements with their employer. Due to this restriction on income, students with higher hourly wages are working fewer hours than their lower salaried colleagues.

Denise Fox, SF State’s associate vice president of human resources, said administrators have not determined if wages will be increased for work-study employees who earn less than the new minimum wage of $8.50 an hour.
“We are going to have a meeting on campus to discuss the actions that we want to take so we can address the issue of salaries of the student,” Fox said.

According to Jenny Quinn, assistant director of student financial aid, 173 of SF State’s 600 work-study employees are paid between $6.75 and $8.75 an hour.
The jobs in this pay range are described as requiring basic to moderate skills, knowledge or training, with routine moderately difficult tasks, student employment guidelines said.

The U.S. Department of Education pays 70 percent of the salaries for work-study employees. The remaining 30 percent is paid by either the state, through SF State’s general fund, or by the employer, such as the case with nonprofits, said Barbara Hubler, director of financial aid.

According to an October 2003 report by the Berkeley Center of Labor Research and Education, the SF minimum wage increase will affect more than 55,700 workers who will see an average annual pay increase of $1,946, or an increase of more than $160 a month.

The report, which was commissioned by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors states, “Almost 60 percent of the nearly 16,000 young people under the age of 25 seeing a wage increase are students.”

The study also states that students can expect a smaller annual income increase than other workers because when balancing school, studies and work they have less time to earn money.