After a two-year delay, the state Legislature approved 19 different state employee contracts Tuesday, including that of the Teaching Assistants' Association.
The contracts were held up after the Legislature's Joint Committee on Employment Relations rejected them in February on the grounds that the state could not afford the agreements. Last week the committee changed its mind after Gov. Jim Doyle introduced a compromise in which non-union employees would pay a portion of their health care costs.
\This has been a tough time for all employees,"" state Senate Majority Leader Mary Panzer said in a statement Tuesday. ""I want to thank the state employees who continued to do their jobs every day and served the public.""
The TAA engaged in several rallies in the past months urging the JCOER to approve the contracts.
The employees will now receive back pay, including a 1 percent raise retroactive to July 1, 2001, a 2 percent raise retroactive to July 2, 2002 and a 2.5 percent raise that started in April. Doyle will sign the contracts today as the final step of the process.
