Hello Mr. Philip Scheurer, my name is Irucka Ajani Embry.  How are you doing?  I am an interested and concerned about the conditions of workers at UT’s facilities.  I believe that all of UT’s workers, and all workers world-wide should be paid a Living Wage based on the relative cost of living for that area.  It is my understanding that many of UT’s employees aren’t paid a Living Wage of $9.50 an hour with benefits and $11.00 an hour without benefits. Why is this still so?  Does not UT have the $10 million or so to pay all of UT’s under-paid and over-worked employees at all of its universities and facilities?  I don’t think that $10 million is too much to ask from a budget that is over $1 billion a year.  If so, then let me know how it is. 

 

Also concerning the workers, do you feel that they work in healthy and safe conditions at all times.  I don’t believe that they do.  I have lived in dorms on UT’s campuses for three years now and I have seen bodily fluids of all kinds (semen, saliva, urine, feces, vaginal fluids, blood, etc.) on the floors in the bathroom and hallways and study rooms, in the sinks, in the showers, in the trash cans, on the seats of the toilets, in and on the elevator surfaces, in the water fountains, and probably in other places as well.  And people are expected to clean up these messes, the messes of those that are privileged enough to attend and over-priced institution of misinformational learning and their guests and others that come to visit the campuses.  The people that are cleaning all of those areas are not provided proper protection from such viruses as Hepatitis B, HIV, and other viruses borne in bodily fluids.  I believe that a Hepatitis B vaccination should be provided free of charge for all of UT’s workers.  It is necessary to protect themselves, their families, and also all of the people that visit UT and that happen to live in UT’s facilities as well.  Education, such as the “workshops” is part of the answer, but also protection is still needed.  Accidents and mistakes can and do happen, that is not unusual.  Have you ever carried a bag of garbage with holes torn in it from any material, and thus the contents of the bag spill on your clothes or on your body?  Then, think about carrying bags with all kinds of matter in it, even bodily fluids at times, day in and day out with little or no protection from the hidden hazards in those bags.  Workers of UT deserve respect, dignity, humanity, a Living Wage, and Hepatitis B vaccinations free of charge as well.  Thank-you for your time and consideration.  Take care.

 

Sincerely,

Irucka Ajani Embry

Concerned person

Concerned student