One PSRP conference workshop dealt with a campaign that is ideally suited to improve the status of school support staff: the living wage. As opposed to the minimum wage--which at the current $5.15 an hour leaves full-time workers well below the poverty level--the concept of a living wage is that anyone who works full time should be able to afford to rent an apartment and have enough left to pay basic living expenses. Because housing costs vary widely, so does the living wage, but PSRPs in most communities earn less than a living wage.

During the workshop, Julie Bowman of the Texas Federation of Teachers described a local campaign in Austin (where she used to head the AFT affiliate's PSRP chapter) that successfully raised wages for the lowest-paid school employees in the district. Among the elements of the Austin campaign:

• find out who would be affected and get them involved;
  
• get the word out to members through the media;
  
• plan the actual campaign (with all materials in English and Spanish);
  
• put together a broadly representative living wage committee (including people not affected, such as teachers);
  
• draw support in schools by using union building representatives (and sign up new members at the same time);
  
• get support on the school board and have leaders and members speak regularly at board meetings and to board members in other forums;
  
• organize rallies and other public events;
  
• promote the progress of the campaign internally so members know what the union is doing; and finally,
  
• celebrate the victory when it comes.

In Austin, it was a partial victory that meant a $1 per hour increase for some workers. Ideally, Bowman says, a living wage law should be tied to a formula that adjusts over time as housing prices increase. One source Bowman suggests for more information on the living wage is www.universallivingwage.com/.