"Student advocates of a living wage for University of Virginia workers say a recent announcement by President John T. Casteen III that he may seek the state's opinion on the legality of paying a living wage to employees is a political maneuver intended to distract the Charlottesville community from the issue at hand.

The students also question why Casteen needs the approval of the state attorney general to increase employee wages, a decision students claim the university can make independent of the state.

But university officials believe the student advocates may have misinterpreted Casteen's recent address, stressing that Casteen's comments were limited to contract workers, not all UVa employees. Casteen encourages living wage proponents to effect change by lobbying the General Assembly - rather than by picketing at the university - because the state, not the university, controls contract workers' wages, university officials said.

Dozens of UVa students streamed into Casteen's office on Feb. 21, leaving leaflets demanding a living wage of $10.72 an hour for all UVa employees. Casteen answered questions earlier this week at a Faculty Senate meeting about a living wage, saying he might seek an opinion from the state attorney general on increasing the minimum wage UVa contract workers are paid, university spokeswoman Carol Wood said.

The students believe Casteen was talking about both contract and classified workers, and they believe he is not committed to a $10.72 living wage at UVa.

'John Casteen is using the idea of a living wage to put off what he has the power to do right now,' said Kevin Simowitz, a second-year student and a Living Wage Campaign organizer. 'It's a way to delay the efforts of the campaign and slow things down -- and that's not good enough for the workers at UVa.'

UVa's academic division has 342 full-time salaried and six part-time employees who earn less than $10.72 an hour. The Medical Center employs 409 full-time salaried and 52 part-time employees who bring home less than $10.72 an hour.

The university raised its minimum hire rate in December to $8.88 an hour, which is 72 percent higher than the federal minimum wage and 30 percent higher than the state classified system minimum hire rate. Students said this recent raise by the university indicates it's empowered to raise employee salaries across the board, but Wood said that raise came after a survey showed the university needed to raise some salaries to meet the area's market.

The General Assembly must approve most across-the-board raises, including those for classified employees, Wood said, which is why Casteen may discuss the issue with Virginia Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

But Simowitz believes Casteen is doing 'little more than political grandstanding' and is 'slowing down and sandbagging the process.'According to Jan Cornell, president of the Staff Union at UVa, Casteen's recent comments amount to 'smoke and mirrors and trying to shut these kids up.'

About 78 percent of the student body supported the living wage in a recent student referendum, said Abby Bellows, a UVa fourth-year student and a Living Wage Campaign organizer. She and fellow advocates hope Casteen will continue to discuss the living wage and ultimately that all UVa workers will be paid at least $10.72 an hour.

'We appreciate his sincere engagement with the issue,' Bellows said. 'But it's crucial to recognize the urgency and that studying a living wage is not implementing a living wage.'" (Melanie Mayhew, The Daily Progress, March 3, 2006)