Outrage filter! →[More:]

The University of California system, for whom I work indirectly, has just given one of its honchos a $61,000 (25%) raise. (Regents gave themselves a raise last year.)

Meanwhile:

-- Student fees are going to increase by as much as 10% next year because the state (which has a $14 billion budget deficit) is cutting university funding.
-- Enrollment of eligible students will be reduced next year to cover costs. As many as 5,000 students who would otherwise be accepted will be turned away. The alternative university systems are already overcrowded because of previous UC enrollment cuts and because of their own funding issues.
-- Last spring, UC clerical workers negotiated their first raise in 5 years -- which will raise their salary by a whopping 3% over the course of 3 years. And the woman in the link gets a 25% raise???
-- The two people I work for (one of whom is directly employed by the university, while the other contracts with the former) are owed a combined $18,000 in travel reimbursements, stretching back to August or September. This is, of course, money they need to pay me for work I've already done.

Gah, this is so frustrating. Just another case of how the people at the top take care of other people at the top, while those of us who struggle to pay for food and utilities read about cushy raises in the paper.

*shakes fist*

I know, I know, I could get another job, and I'm trying to. But still, there's something really fucked up about the system.