3. "Ten dollars per hour is not a living wage. It is simply an arbitrary and inflated number."

Our $10 per hour standard is taken directly from the Cambridge living wage ordinance, approved by the City Council in May. The ordinance established a minimum wage of $10 per hour for all city workers, as well as employees of city contractors. According to the Eviction-Free Zone, one of three organizations which drafted the ordinance, $10 per hour was chosen because it was the lowest wage paid any unionized city employee. As such, it was seen as a minimal standard for a living wage. In fact, studies on the local cost of living show just how minimal it is. According to the National Low-Income Housing Commission, a wage of roughly $15 per hour is needed to live in the Boston area. Wider Opportunities for Women also found that in 1997, a living wage for families of varying composition would range from $11 to $18 per hour.

These findings have been borne out by our experience talking to workers: We have not found a Harvard employee who earns less than $10 per hour and who can afford to live in Cambridge.

4. "We can't force our subcontractors to pay a living wage."

The city of Cambridge and every other city that has passed a living wage ordinance requires subcontractors to meet its wage standard. Mechanisms have been developed in all these cities to force subcontractors to pay decent wages, and there is no reason to believe that Harvard could not employ similar means. In fact, Harvard already directly participates in determining the wages of its subcontracted workers through contract negotiations. As one of the largest and most powerful institutions in the state, Harvard has no trouble influencing the firms with which it does business.

The arguments presented by the administration are evasive, misleading and so obviously wrong that we can hardly imagine that administrators honestly believe them. It is clear to the overwhelming majority of students, workers and community members that a $10-per-hour living wage at Harvard is fair and necessary, and that the poverty that this University creates is unacceptable by any measure.

No Harvard employee should have to work three jobs to meet his or her family's basic needs; no working family should be forced to balance endlessly on the brink of economic disaster. In asking for a living wage, we call on Harvard administrators to join the rest of the community in recognizing that the lives of working people are more important than nickels and dimes. It is time for Neil Rudenstine to take responsibility for the economic survival of the people who make this university run.