Meet the winner: Lily Rafalin

Lily Rafalin is an undergraduate student in Classics at Clare College. She has recently won a Vice-Chancellor’s Social Impact Award in recognition of her efforts to establish the Clare College Living Wage Campaign.

Her nominator said that:

“She has worked tirelessly with many different departments across college to gather information, helping produce a report to present to the finance committee of the college. The big achievement of this work is that Clare College has agreed to commit to the long-term goal of living wage accreditation! By achieving a promise from the college to commit to living wage accreditation, this will have a significant, tangible impact on many workers in the Clare community who play such a vital role in supporting the college. They will receive pay rises and will be guaranteed greater security because of living wage accreditation.

Lily has been instrumental in effecting this change, as she was the person who presented the campaign’s pleas to the finance committee and the college council, resulting in this long lasting achievement.”

Lily explained in detail how this process was carried out and how much it involved working in partnership with others.

“Upon arriving at Clare, I and my peers were shocked to discover that the College did not pay all its workers a Real Living Wage. A group including myself set up the campaign group as an official society and began building student engagement with regular open meetings and social media activity.

We opened negotiations with various college departments and initially hit various roadblocks. Alongside these negotiations we researched and compiled a report making the case extensively for the Real Living Wage in Clare to present to the College Council. We also wrote an open letter to the College which obtained over 300 signatures from students, academic and non-academic staff and alumni, proving the extent of support for the cause within the college. I worked on this report and letter alongside other members of the campaign, all of whom put in significant work. I acted as chair and spokesperson in Lent term, taking our report and the open letter to the College Council on behalf of the campaign and presenting it there.

The Council responded positively to many of our demands. They gave a formal commitment to pursuing accreditation and paying the living wage to all workers, which had previously been presented as out of the question. For workers whose wages usually increase in July, leaving them short of the Real Living Wage once it is updated in November, the College agreed to automatically increase wages in line with the new Living Wage every January, representing a wage increase of approximately 30p per hour for an extra six months of the year. The College made other offers of wage increases which are still under negotiation but have engaged productively and collaboratively with the campaign, for which we are grateful.”

She also expressed how she is truly proud that her efforts have resulted in effective social change.

“I feel that the greatest achievement of the campaign so far is the change in timelines for salary increases in line with the updating of the Real Living Wage, which represents a wage increase for 6 months of the year for over 30 members of staff. I feel very proud to have played a role in something which I hope will have a tangible impact in the day-to-day lives of those affected. It also feels an important achievement that the College has committed to accreditation with the Living Wage Foundation as a result of our campaign and report; accreditation is a vital means of accountability and the only way to protect workers in the long term.”

Lily was really pleased to have received this award, particularly as it increases awareness of the Living Wage Campaign.