Officers demand higher wages

Student security officers at De Anza College believe that they have been unjustly passed over for a raise this year and are now pressing the district for an increase in their wages.

In a letter that was signed by all the student officers and sent out to members of the De Anza faculty and staff, the officers allege that while all other student employees at De Anza and Foothill Colleges received an increase in pay for 2008, they were unfairly left out.

"We are formally requesting that our hourly wages be increased (by) $2.00 in conjunction with the raises received by (the) Foothill College Police Student Aides, and the district- wide increase policy," the officers' letter reads.

On Feb. 28, the officers met with District Director of Safety and Security Ron Levine to outline their position and discuss possible solutions. Levine has not yet come forth with a decision regarding the issue.

Due to the sensitivity of the situation and related circumstances that make it difficult for security officers to discuss departmental matters, none of the student officers has chosen to speak publicly about the wage conflict.

There is, however, a sense of confusion and disappointment among the officers in those responsible for the decisions regarding their salaries, as evidenced by their correspondence with school officials.

"After asking many student workers from several different departments around De Anza College and [the Foothill-De Anza District Police]," the letter reads. "We discovered that Foothill and De Anza student workers did receive the raise on Jan. 1, 2008 … leaving us puzzled as to why we were left out."

The letter alleges that the pay discrepancy is just one of the problems facing student officers, the others being ineffective equipment and unsanitary working conditions. The letter also contends that the lack of funds explanation offered by school officials is unacceptable.

Many of the student security officers at De Anza see the pay discrepancy as an effective demotion and argue that they should have received a pay increase along with other district employees.

"All that we're asking for is that we be given the tools to perform our jobs more effectively and that our wages reflect the services that we provide," the letter states.

Cindy Castillo, director of Financial Aid and Scholarships at De Anza, said that the officers are not being passed over for a raise, and that, in fact, they are already being paid close to what other student employees are making due to an earlier increase in officer wages.

The system in place for deciding student employees' wages puts each employee into one of four tiers, each tier receiving progressively higher pay, she said. There is an "entry level," an "intermediate level," a "specialist level" and a "technical level."

If a manager was to hire a new employee knowing that a raise in pay would later be necessary in order to meet minimum wage requirements, he might simply start that employee at a higher wage level than usual in order to forego the later pay increase.

As the employee would already be earning more than most other employees in his tier, situations could arise where it would seem as if he were being passed over for a raise when, in fact, he was not.

At the moment, the student officers are not satisfied with this explanation, and they remain convinced that the issue is all about money and the college's unwillingness to part with it.

Shawn McGann is a staff reporter for La Voz. Contact him at shawnmcgann@lavozdeanza.com.