But the University has yet to implement a mandatory wage floor, and McKean responds light-heartedly to critics’ calls for living wage campaign members to give up.

“I’ve got to tell you, there certainly aren’t any workers saying that,” McKean quips. “We are going to continue to fight for a policy where there is a living wage adjusted annually, where we don’t need to worry about the details of a bargaining clause or parity—this is something where we can finally go home.”

The Numbers Game

But PSLM members’ continued calls for a living wage—in the face of a contract that nets workers more than the current living wage figure—has resulted in criticism.

Matthew Milikowsky ’02, a member of the Harvard Committee on Employment and Contracting Policies, says he questions why PSLM members have continued to protest, even after the committee’s report.

“They found an issue with a legitimate grievance. Harvard’s negotiating practices over the last decade were unfair. That’s why there was the [committee] report,” Milikowsky says.

And some students say campaign members have used a moving goal post, continually increasing the wage they deem appropriate for Harvard’s workers.

PSLM members now say hinging last spring’s campaign on Cambridge’s living wage figure—then $10.25, now $11.11— was a mistake.

Since then, PSLM members have backed away from the precise living wage figure.

“When the campaign started, workers were not organized and the idea was they should be treated at least as well as Cambridge [city employees],” says PSLM member Madeleine S. Elfenbein ’02. “Now, we see they should be treated as well as they deserve to be treated.”

Paradigm Shift

While PSLM members say they realize that the campaign for a living wage at Harvard will become less vocal, they say they will remain active—both on and off-campus.

At their most recent protest, PSLM was joined by about a dozen members of the Boston area’s chapter of the Student Labor Action Project (SLAP). PSLM members also worked with students around the region to help spawn similar movements at nearby colleges, such as Tufts and Boston College (BC).

According to Joseph Previtera, a BC first-year and SLAP member, PSLM was played a vital role in encouraging BC students to become active in labor issues.

He said he particularly remembers former PSLM member Lara Z. Jirmanus ’01.