The university is edging closer to a new deal with Limited Term Employees, Vice Chancellor for Administration Darrell Bazzell said in a statement Monday.
UW-Madison had previously announced over the summer that it was pursuing reformation of its contentious LTE policy, which has been a flash point of conflict between the administration and student activists, especially the Student Labor Action Coalition.
The revised policy will convert 95 percent of all ""inappropriate"" LTE appointments to positions of full time employment over a six-year period and increase the wage to $10.23, according to the release.
SLAC member, UW-Madison senior and LTE Collaboration Group member Ashok Kumar said while the university collaborated well with students and LTEs in reforming LTE positions, people should remember this collaboration sprang from opposition to the university and LTE policies.
""I think this is a good step forward, but people have to remember that this came out of struggle. [They were] attacking the institution in power, in many ways,"" he said.
The LTE positions were originally designated for seasonal employees, especially at the Memorial Union. However, according to Kumar, some employees were kept in LTE positions for as many as 20 years.
Kumar expressed hope that enthusiasm for movements similar to the LTE reform movement would spread to other universities.
""Other University of Wisconsin schools are already, in some senses, I've heard, kind of scared that this is going to spread to them, and hopefully it does,"" Kumar said.
