Vanderbilt, Union Reach Agreement

After three days of negotiations with a federal mediator, Vanderbilt University and the union representing its custodial and grounds staff have reached an agreement over wages.

Employees will get a 3-percent across the board raise and the base wage will move to 10-dollars over three years. The union rejected this same offer from Vanderbilt in January, but union business manager Glenn Farner says they won some important concessions this time—namely a half-percentage higher raise across the board in the second and third years of the contract.

“This is significant. By our calculations this is almost another 250-thousand dollars that the university put into the terms and this contract.”

Entry level employees were making 7-dollars and 55 cents an hour. A student led coalition and the Laborers’ union have been pushing for a ‘living wage’ since the last contract expired in November.

Vanderbilt says neither side in a negotiation gets everything they want, but the University said it was pleased with the agreement.

Members of the union will vote on the agreement on Friday.