About 440 classified staff members, the lowest paid University employees, will receive pay raises of $750 annually as part of a new directive from ASU President Michael Crow.
Those who qualified for the raise had an annual income of $27,000 or less, or earned at least 10 percent less than their job's "local market value," (the average of what other workers in the region, doing the same job, earn).
"It was an important thing to do, to get these jobs into market range, or at least closer," said LeEtta Overmyer, associate vice president for Human Resources.
The move was designed to counteract upcoming increases in insurance, parking and retirement payments, Overmyer said.
More than 4,200 jobs at ASU are considered classified staff, or non-managerial workers, including custodians, library assistants and secretaries.
The Classified Staff Council, a union that regulates the treatment of these workers, approached Crow at a September meeting with problems being faced by lower-paid staff members.
"There were a number of staff that were eligible for food stamps," said Council President Pamela Mulhearn.
The raises have drawn criticism from some who believe they are not substantial enough, and that the University's rising costs actually exceed the raise. Retirement, for example, which is an obligatory percentage taken annually from the salary of all classified staff, will be hiked up from 2.49 percent this year to 5.7 percent next year. For a worker with a salary of $27,000 this would mean an additional $866.70 taken out of their pay yearly - more than the raise itself.
Library specialist Allan Guisinger described the raise "like giving a starving dog a kernel of corn to keep him from dying - or biting."
ASU spokeswoman Nancy Neff said Crow considered a number of salary options before settling on the current raise, which he felt would have an impact on the most workers.
The increase will apply to 29 job classifications, including positions such as drivers, custodians and office specialists. About 10 percent of classified staff will receive the raise, which begins with the workers' Feb. 15 paychecks.
In some cases, workers' raises have put them near the range of higher-paid department employees who do not qualify for the increase.
"The problem with [the raise] is it shortened the gap between the custodians and the lead worker," Nelson said. "A lot of them don't see the benefit because they're not paid that much more."
John Kemp, lead custodial supervisor, also expressed his frustration with the situation. "If I quit tomorrow and came back two weeks from now [as a new employee], I'd make $100 less," he said. "It just makes you feel like you're always at the starting wage."
Other workers said the pay hike was a good start but expressed skepticism about the raise's effects.
"Obviously I don't want to complain about it with the state of the economy, but it's still hard to make ends meet," said library specialist Brian Thompson. "I can't imagine what the people with families are doing."
University funding sources will provide $200,000 for the raises, Overmyer said.
"I hope that this pay raise didn't set forth a chopping block for custodians down the line," Nelson said.
Neff said there is currently no plan to terminate jobs, but that it would depend on future budgets.
ASU is currently gathering data for next year's salary structure, which could allow for more raises, Neff said.
"We can't bring everyone up to the salary we want to be in, but we're making steps," Mulhearn said.
Reach the reporter at garrett.neese@asu.edu.
