With the state budget nearly two months overdue, there is still substantial confusion over its various proposals. As evidenced by a recent Daily Cardinal news article (Proposal allowing UW faculty to unionize draws fierce criticism,"" Sept 11, 2007), perhaps no proposal is as misunderstood as the proposal that would extend collective bargaining rights to UW faculty and academic staff.
Gov. Jim Doyle and the Wisconsin State Senate have introduced a budget proposal that would give UW faculty and academic staff the right to vote for representation through collective bargaining. This provision does not ""unionize"" UW faculty and academic staff - it allows workers the right to vote on whether or not they would like to collectively bargain.
Unfortunately, confusion over this proposal is exacerbated by state lawmakers such as Sen. Glenn Grothman, who never seems to be at a loss for insults and doomsday scenarios. One wonders whether Grothman has done his homework. In a recent press release, Grothman reported that the UW would be the only university system in the Big Ten to grant faculty and academic staff collective bargaining rights.
One need look no further than a simple Google search for the facts: Faculty and academic staff at more than 1,000 colleges and universities across the United States are able to vote for or against collective bargaining, and seven Big Ten systems currently have collective bargaining rights (In fact, the 2007 Badger football schedule has Bucky facing off against schools whose professional faculty and academic staff members enjoy collective bargaining rights in nine of twelve games this season).
Extending collective bargaining rights to UW faculty and academic staff will align practices at the University of Wisconsin System with almost every other public employer in the state, as well as with peer/competitive institutions. This proposal will attract and retain the level of faculty essential to a strong system.
Misled policy-makers such as Grothman have attempted to paint collective bargaining rights for UW faculty and academic staff as a divisive partisan issue. This proposal has enjoyed a history of bipartisan support: In 2006, legislation supporting collective bargaining rights was introduced by the Republican Senate majority leader and the Republican Assembly speaker pro temp.
In addition to bipartisan support in the legislature, this issue has received strong support by faculty and academic staff across the state, as well as the endorsement by the official voice of University of Wisconsin students, United Council.
Through his inflammatory rhetoric, Sen. Grothman purports to champion the best interests of UW faculty and staff. UW Faculty and Academic staff are a diverse and independent group of professionals with a wide array of interests. We are simply asking for the opportunity to express those interests by exercising our right to vote.
Jim Molenda
Co-president of United
Faculty and Academic
Staff at UW-Madison,
AFT Local 223
