Just Employment Project

Over the past several years, several Catholic and Jesuit colleges and universities, including Georgetown, have adopted policies to protect the rights of university employees as well as subcontracted campus workers. The Kalmanovitz Initiative seeks to connect these isolated efforts under a comprehensive policy framework that unites all Jesuit colleges and universities in support of just employment standards.

Working with colleagues at several Catholic and Jesuit institutions, the Kalmanovitz Initiative has convened a network of faculty, clergy, staff, and students who share our a vision for just employment practices. This network has collaborated to draft a set of model principles and standards that draw from recent initiatives on our campuses and Catholic social teaching on the dignity of work and the rights of workers. This model, titled the Just Employment Policy, has been presented at the AJCU’s Justice in Jesuit Higher Education conference, the ISN’s annual Ignatian Family Teach-in for Justice, and even the White House Summit on Worker Voice. The multi-university network seeks to advance good labor practices in higher education by advocating for just employment, consulting on the implementation of such policies, hosting workshops on worker rights and the living wage, and shedding a light on cases where universities choose to do right by their employees.

You can also plug into this work by emailing us directly at kilwp@georgetown.edu.