Austin desperately needs lifeguards but has resisted calls for a wage increase,
With the city of Austin facing a lifeguard shortage that has prevented it from opening more than half of its city pools at the start of the summer, a group of lifeguards is organizing for the wages and benefits it believes will alleviate the shortage. Citing the examples set by unionizing Starbucks and Amazon workers,and a host of other enhanced benefits including holiday pay, paid time off, and reclassification from temporary to full-time city employees.
"COVID killed our momentum drastically," Levine said."We had 850 lifeguards in 2019, for that summer, and most of those were in by June, we operated no problem, it was real easy ... And it was $15 per hour. The only thing that's really changed is we stopped training in March of 2020, huge economic depression, labor shortage, people got out of the workforce.
Already, Austin has bowed to external pressure to raise wages. Earlier this year, the city raised the general starting rate for lifeguards from $15 toIt has not, however, committed to the raises that lifeguards believe would end the shortage. Cobb said that his group has received support from the cityas well as several members of City Council, but they ultimately need action from the full City Council to further raise wages.
“COVID killed our momentum drastically. ... The only thing that’s really changed is we stopped training in March of 2020, huge economic depression, labor shortage, people got out of the workforce.”Levine, noting that many of the city's lifeguards are high school and college students who are only available for seasonal work to begin with, argued that the job is already well-suited to meet its employees' needs.
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