The University of Virginia is increasing the hourly wage of employees in its academic division and medical center from $12.75 to $15 per hour.
The new move is expected to affect more than 1,400 full-time, benefits-eligible workers, which will increase their annual gross pay by approximately $4,500 per year.
“As a University, we should live our values – and part of that means making sure that no one who works at UVA should live in poverty,” university president Jim Ryan said in a message to the university community.
The decision was announced last Thursday after UVA’s Community Working Group, which was established in October 2018, recommended reducing inequities in jobs and wages, affordable housing, youth education, and health care.
Over the next few months, university officials will begin to focus on extending the same $15 per hour wage to additional workers who are employed by contractors, a more legally and logistically complicated undertaking.
“In making this decision, we are following the inspiring example set by the City of Charlottesville, as well as other cities, states, companies, academic institutions and health systems across the country that have raised their base wages to $15 an hour,” Ryan said.
“This also follows a report by the UVA-Community Working Group identifying jobs and wages as the most important issue for the community,” he added.
Earlier this January, Duke University and the University of California also implemented increased wages on their campuses, affecting thousands of employees overall.
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