A Monday report by the American Association of University Professors found UW faculty salaries are trailing national rates.
Jill Malak, communications representative for the Wisconsin chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, said the report is not surprising and shows a trend seen in the past several years.
AFT-Wisconsin is advocating collective bargaining rights for UW faculty and academic staff to give them a voice at the table"" to promote their agenda and increase salaries, according to Malak.
A bill for collective bargaining rights in the most recent legislative session passed the state Senate before stalling in the Colleges and Universities Committee in the state Assembly.
State Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, chairs the committee and is opposed to collective bargaining, according to his spokesperson Mike Mikalsen.
Mikalsen said total compensation is a more appropriate measure than salary because UW faculty receive other benefits like the state retirement plan and health insurance.
He also said collective bargaining would not change faculty salaries, which are decided by the Board of Regents.
""The Legislature always gets blamed for it, but the reality is the place that people need to go back and look at is the Board of Regents and UW System, looking at how they '¦ divvy up tuition and the state dollars for salaries,"" Mikalsen said.
UW-Madison professor Clifton Conrad in the department of educational leadership and policy analysis said the salary rates show a declining commitment to educational quality.
""I do think we need to raise salaries, but that means that the state Legislature has to bear some responsibility along with faculty,"" Conrad said. ""I think we have to make a choice and quit pretending that we are a public university if the Legislature isn't maintaining fidelity of what a public university is, which includes teaching.""
Conrad also said he thought most UW-Madison faculty would be opposed to collective bargaining because it might restrict their independence.
However, Malak said she is optimistic the Legislature will reconsider collective bargaining in the next session.
""We are hopeful that there are enough enlightened legislators out there who realize that this is just a basic human right that continues to be denied,"" she said.
