Reply #9: best estimate I can find

[hfojvt]

says they make (on average) $31,000 a year or $15.
This article says that a 1% increase means $1.1 million and that 3,500 are on strike. So 100% is $110 million divided by 3,500 is $31,000 (rounded down)
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/09/05/uofmstrike/

$15 an hour is pretty good money from where I sit. A step increase IS an increase in pay, even if it is not a COLA. There's one exception to that - people who are at the top. If there are only ten steps then people at step 10 do not get the step increase. People at the top have been there a long time. Why? Because it's a good paying job. Their experience is valuable but too many times I have seen their work ethic stink. Especially if it is almost impossible to fire them.

They still get bigger raises than people at the bottom. Take a person making $50,000 a year and one making $20,000 a year (for the average of $35,000). The top person gets a COLA of $1125. The bottom person only gets $950 - $450 for a COLA and $500 for a step. I cannot cry for the person making $50,000. My Minnesota degree never got me half of that. So I vote against a strike.

Just my 2 cents (which is now $1.37 due to inflation).