UW System faculty may not be receiving the 4.2 percent pay raise proposed by the Board of Regents this year.
A decrease in the pay raise, UW System President Katharine Lyall asserts, would threaten the quality of education offered at the university.
'We have been hearing rumors that the proposal that goes forward may be smaller,' said Kevin Boatright, assistant vice president for UW System Communications.
Normally, the UW System is told earlier in the process what the outcome would be for a proposed pay increase, Boatright said. The state Legislature's Joint Committee on Employee Relations has yet to review this proposed pay raise. The JCOER meeting to determine the faculty pay raise is set for Oct. 3, however, and the university has heard nothing, Boatright said.
On Sept. 21, Lyall sent a letter entreating Gov. Scott McCallum to recommend the 4.2 percent pay increase to the JCOER. The set pay raise was, Lyall wrote, 'based on painstaking market research showing that our faculty and staff are falling behind their peer groups.' She insists in her letter that the university is 'in a nationally and internationally competitive market and our work force is highly motivated and highly mobile.' A decrease in the pay raise could easily result in a 'brain drain for Wisconsin.'
Debbie Monterrey-Millett, press secretary for McCallum, stated that the governor understands the concerns of the university.
At this point, however McCallum, 'has not committed to the 4.2 percent pay increase. ... In a tight budget, sometimes [the university faculty and staff are] not going to get everything they want,' Monterrey-Millett said.
McCallum will watch the negotiations with other state employee unions before making a recommendation, Monterrey-Millett said.
'It's not like there's money sitting there,' she added. 'The state has been experiencing a number of economic downfalls.'
Even so, Boatright said that the economic downfalls would not affect the state budget significantly. The state only funds one percent of these salaries.
'Most of its funds [are] coming from tuition [which has] already been paid,' Boatright said.
JCOER Co-Chair Fred Risser, D-Madison, said he was uncertain of how the bipartisan committee will respond to Lyall's letter. The JCOER must approve the pay increase for it to go into effect.
'I subscribe to the letter [Lyall] has written,' Risser said. 'I am supportive of the university's requests on pay adjustments. ... The committee will give very serious consideration to it.'
