Last November, when administration announced that UT would not be providing hazard pay or a higher minimum wage for frontline campus workers, Brandon Risley, who works as a custodian in Hess Hall, was in disbelief.
âWeâre underpaid like no other,â Risley said. âThe hazard pay is one thing, but the pay in general for this company is ridiculous.â
Facilities workers spent months in the fall fighting for hazard pay of $2.50 an hour and a minimum wage of $15, which they see as the minimum livable wage.
Risley says that his brotherâs girlfriend makes more than him as a cashier at Walgreens and her mother, recently out of prison, makes more at her factory job than he does. Neither of them has to pay for parking at their workplaces either, as Risley and other facilities workers do.