What is it like when you are living paycheck to paycheck and you don’t get paid? Adjuncts at York were invited to share their experiences when PSC activists sought signatures on a petition about the late paycheck problem. Here is some of what they said:
SOLE SOURCE OF INCOME
“My current position at York is my sole source of income. We’ve delayed paying for rent, utilities, food and the additional bills that don’t sympathize with ‘late’ payments. We’ve dealt with potential late fees causing us to have to borrow from others, and with phone calls to collectors requesting extensions. The meager warning from payroll was insufficient.”
INSULTED
“I know that not receiving a check of a few hundred dollars may not be a big deal to some people, such as administrators who get much larger checks – and on time! However, not getting paid has been an embarrassing and uncomfortable situation for me.
Because I didn’t receive my first check, I had to ask friends to front me some money. ‘What do you mean, they didn’t pay you?’ they say. ‘Why are you still working?’ Well paperwork mishaps can happen, I think, and so I rearrange things (including phone bills, utilities, credit card) to be paid on October 4, 2012. I make phone calls to try and avoid late fees and interest fees. Come October 4, 2012, I find out I won’t be paid, either. Now, do I ask my friends again? I eventually found I could go to Human Resources to get 60%, but I didn’t know in time. Also, I am insulted I would have to go apply for dollars that I earned and that belong to me in the first place!”
NO PARKING
“A notice informing adjuncts of a new pay date was sent to some and not others; I did not receive it. I immediately had to make alternate arrangements to pay my rent, household bills, and for my gas (that I use to bring me back and forth from Queens). I have not been able to secure a loan for $175 to cover the cost of parking at York. The security officers at the parking gate are not sympathetic to my plight when I explain that the college hasn’t paid me.”
CONFLICT
“Not being paid has created conflict between my landlord and me about my rent. I have also had strain in my marriage due to this. There isn’t a single area of my life that has not been affected.”
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RELATED COVERAGE:
Adjunct Pay Delay Slammed: York College Under Fire for Stiffing 125 Part-Timers
