Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette Members of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local Union 1166 asked for improved wages and working conditions during a Michigan Technological University Board of Trustees meeting in February. Tech and AFSCME reached a one-year agreement that included an immediate minimum-wage increase of $1.25 per hour, with an additional 60 cents coming at the start of the next fiscal year.

HOUGHTON — Michigan Technological University service and maintenance employees are seeing a minimum-wage increase as part of a new contract reached this month.

The contract with American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local Union 1166 is retroactive to the start of the year and runs through Dec. 31.

“Frontline employees are an invaluable part of campus life at Michigan Tech,” Ian Repp, associate vice president of university marketing and communications, said in a statement. “The University is pleased both parties could come to an agreement.”

Messages were left with AFSCME Local Union 1166 President Steve Store seeking comment.

The lowest starting salary on the ten-tiered wage system is now $14.25 per hour, up from $13 per hour in the previous contract, according to a contract posted on Tech’s website. The raise was effective with the first full pay period after ratification. They also received $450 hazard pay.

Employees will receive another raise of 60 cents per hour starting July 1. In an interview with Michigan Tech’s Lode, Vice President for University Relations and Enrollment John Lehman said two-thirds of employees would be making more than $15 per hour by July 1.

Employees had previously voted down an increase to $14 an hour, union employee D’Neen Kerttu said during February’s Tech Board of Trustees meeting.

Employees and dependents will also receive group health and insurance benefits equal or greater than those currently provided during the term of the agreement, the contract states.

More than 40 union members attended the February Board of Trustees meeting to ask for improved wages and work conditions.

A 2019 Tech Senate proposal called for raising the minimum wage for staff employees to $15. The $15 mark would be “the mid-point range of suggested living wages for employees with and without dependents.” the Senate resolution said, citing the Massachusetts Institute of Technology living wage calculator.

For 2022, the living wage for one adult with no child in Houghton County working 40 hours a week is $13.74 per hour, the calculator found. For families with two working adults and a child, the living wage is $16.62.

An Undergraduate Student Government resolution introduced earlier this month called for raising the minimum wage for Tech employees to $15, the Lode said.