Workers for the student-run Binghamton Sound, Staging and Lighting could get their wages cut by the Student Association ‘ but not without a fight.

Vice President of Finance Chris Powell has proposed to lower the SA-chartered group’s wages from $10 to $8 an hour starting next semester. But in a letter presented to the Student Assembly last week, BSSL General Manager Sacha Sigelman-Schwartz called for representatives to draft a resolution that would overrule the proposal.

‘BSSL believes that $10 per hour is a reasonable wage,’ Sigelman-Schwartz, a junior management major, said in his address to the Student Assembly. ‘Building a stage is hard physical labor. Current BSSL staff members refuse to work staging events for anything less than $10 per hour.’

BSSL has worked on campus events like the Gym Class Heroes concert held last month and the Greek God competition a few weeks ago.

‘I think it’s fair for them to be concerned about their wages,’ said Powell, a senior economics major. ‘But their primary goal should be for the experience, not the salary.’

Powell said if current BSSL staff members refuse to work for the lowered salary, then he is prepared to hire a completely new staff ‘ a plan that Sigelman-Schwartz has already contested.

‘Finding a sufficient number of students willing to work staging events for $8 per hour will be a challenge,’ Sigelman-Schwartz said.

Sigelman-Schwartz said he was upset about Powell’s decision, but not surprised by it. Powell’s proposal came after nearly two years of combined efforts between the VPF’s office and BSSL to reduce payroll expenses of the student-run business. Previous efforts taken to reduce such expenses include the stricter control of the number of hours that managers spend in the office and making sure that managers working at an event would be paid for the specific task they are assigned instead of receiving a manager-level wage.

‘They have every right to question their wages,’ he said. ‘But this is a subsidized service that a lot of student groups use.’

According to Powell, lowering wages will result in less spending for the student groups using BSSL’s services.

SA President David Bass agreed.

‘If we are able to save money, it could lead to more money for student groups,’ Bass said.

But despite Powell’s efforts, a resolution has been drafted for the Student Assembly that could reach a compromise.

‘The resolution stipulates that a compromise wage of $9 will be set,’ said Andrew Leavey, a freshman political science major and Student Assembly representative. ‘It’s very straight forward.’

The resolution is scheduled to be introduced to the Student Assembly Monday, Nov. 12, but will need two-thirds of the Assembly vote to be considered during that meeting. If it doesn’t get enough votes, then it will be considered the next week. The resolution will need a majority vote to pass.