The message below comes from someone in the Teaching Assistants’ Association, about the efforts going on in the Capitol. You can call the TAA Office at (608) 256-4375. (more…)
Archive for the ‘Collective bargaining’ Category
TAA puts out call for help
Monday, February 21st, 2011Posted in Collective bargaining, State-University Relations, The University System, The UW-Madison Campus | No Comments »
Greedy state employees just don’t get it – the governor has to balance the budget!
Thursday, February 17th, 2011Now that I’ve got your attention…
Yes, let’s all stipulate that the governor has to balance the budget. What options does he have to do that? He can (a) cut spending and/or (b) increase revenues.
Both of these options have downsides, both political and economic; otherwise we wouldn’t keep kicking the can down the road as long as we have. Nevertheless, in a rational world, and pushed to the wall, we would weigh the pros and cons of both targeted spending cuts and targeted revenue increases and find the balance that is best for the long-term health of the economy and quality of life of Wisconsin. (more…)
Posted in Collective bargaining, State-University Relations, The University Budget | 1 Comment »
An idealistic student goes to the Capitol to be heard…and takes home a bitter civics lesson.
Wednesday, February 16th, 2011After first preparing the materials which I would use to teach with the next day, I headed to the Wisconsin State Capitol building [on Tuesday] to get in line to speak at the Joint Finance Committee hearing, which had been going on for eight hours. The time was 6:27 p.m. when I turned in the yellow slip expressing my desire to speak to the committee. For the next few hours, I waited in the Rotunda, on the stairwells, and outside of room 412E. I was in the group of people begging to be let in when committee members closed the hearing doors, refused to let the public in, and considered adjourning the meeting around 9:00 p.m. (more…)
Posted in Collective bargaining, State-University Relations, The University Budget, The University System, The UW-Madison Campus | 1 Comment »
On public employees and the right to organize
Sunday, February 13th, 2011With the dramatic budget proposal issued from the Wisconsin governor’s office this week, I find that as a knowledge-worker employed to research and to teach — or to “sift and winnow,” we like to say around here — I am motivated to write a short public piece about my own reactions to these budget proposals. I write from my personal position as both a state worker and a UW-Madison professor. Please remember that my views are my own, and not necessarily those of my department, my college, or my peers. (more…)
Posted in Collective bargaining, Compensation, State-University Relations | No Comments »
New collective bargaining agreement for TAs, PAs
Friday, November 6th, 2009We post here, unedited and without editorial comment, the complete text of an informational letter circulated by Letters & Sciences summarizing changes in the collective bargaining agreement for Teaching Assistants and Project Assistants, as signed recently by Governor Doyle.
Posted in Collective bargaining, Instruction, Letters and Sciences, State-University Relations, The University System | No Comments »
Professors of the World, Unite?
Sunday, October 18th, 2009The recent bill granting the faculty of the University of Wisconsin the right to unionize attracted the attention of the op-ed page of the Wall Street Journal:
Professors of the World, Unite?
We are posting the link here not because the editors of this forum take sides (yet) on whether faculty should unionize but rather to promote awareness of the issue and to invite comment, both pro and con, from readers. In particular, comment is invited on (a) whether the op-ed piece is factually accurate, and (b) whether unionization is desirable for UW-Madison faculty.
- the Editors
Posted in Collective bargaining, State-University Relations, The University System | 4 Comments »
Collective bargaining at UW – the next chapter
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009The issue of collective bargaining rights for Wisconsin academics — from graduate research assistants to tenured faculty — percolated for years (at least partly “under the radar” for many campus citizens) and finally came to a head over the summer. The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), which has been a major force behind the push, summarized the situation (as they see it) in this article that appeared very shortly after the legislation was signed on June 29, 2009.
There are stories within stories here, and most readers are blissfully unaware of how a very few individuals on both sides of the issue played a disproportionate role in shaping the outcome, especially for UW RAs, who came within a hair’s breadth of being absorbed into an existing union without their knowledge or consent. These are stories for another time.
The important point is that every affected group now has the choice (a) whether to unionize and (b) if so, who should represent them. (more…)
Posted in Collective bargaining, The University System, The UW-Madison Campus | 9 Comments »