Hssss... Hello....hss... we're the Badger Herald EBoard from 1970....hssssss... we've come back to lifesssss...... so we can prevent RoeverssssssusWade and Jimmy Carter......sssss....ssssssssscrew the T A A...hhsssss....ssstupid leftistssss......

You are entitled to believe that the TAA should be treated as any other state employee. But the problem arrises when you compare our TA's benefits to that of other like sized universities. That is where we fail horribly in providing health care, and that is what is going to cause us to lose highly qualified people. I know i was just as influenced by good TAs as I was by good profs. Yes, it probably would be unfair to give TA's a higher standard, but I certainly don't want to lose great TAs to other universities.

There's no evidence to indicate that this university is losing good TAs to other universities. So many good TAs I have had tell me how hard it was for them to get their TA position. The university does not have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get good TAs.

Furthermore, this editorial is absolutely right when it says, "The TAA ought to be grateful that its members haven't been handled by the state as the criminals they became when undertaking a blatantly illegal job action last spring." The TAs who went on strike last year ought be happy they didn't all get fired, much less that they have the opportunity to get health care for $9/month.

And if the state would agree on a fixed or proportional rate for premiums (it's 9/ single, 25/ family, btw), the TAA would have taken it - in fact, one of the offers we made was based on just such an idea, and it would have SAVED the State of WI over $300,000 over their own plan.
However, the state has refused to make premuims fixed, incremental or proportional; that is, they refuse to put in any language that would prevent them from raising the premiums as much as they like, without regard to pay raises/ decreases, standard of living, etc: $10, 50, 200/ month...? (There are TA's at other schools that pay several hundred a month for their premiums.) This is what the TAA rightfully objected to.

If you don't believe the university is losing candidates because of our low pay (in comparison to schools by which UW measures itself) and the possibility of paying for health care, talk to a department chair, or a graduate program secretary. I work in one of the largest departments on campus, and can personally testify to people choosing to go elsewhere - they can earn more working as much or less than here.

Disband the TAA. Call your legislators.

Unions are the scourge of the United States. An impediment to free market forces. These TAAs are free to choose to work elsewhere, and if it got the point that Wisconsin could not attract qualified TAAs, they'd be forced to raise wages to do so.

But no. Unions view their contract as an entitlement, which is exactly why they're outdated. Unions established a century ago had a purpose. Today they exist to protect the status quo.

The legislature did not punish the TAA not because of its benevolence, but because the strike was well organized and they did not have any support in that attempt.

"Disband the TAA?" Put down The Fountainhead and back away slowly...

The TAA isn't working to maintain the 'status quo;' the current status quo is HMO's and health insurers raise prices to astronomical levels; businesses pass those costs onto their employees, thus raising the premiums to exhorbitant levels, and workers are no longer ensured affordable health care (which means they rely on state-subsidized care; Wal-Mart alone costs WI taxpayers millions each year). Medical costs go up. The TAA (along with 70,000+ other state workers who don't have a contract) see this as a part of a larger struggle for affordable health insurance.
Why not try to disband the corrupt politicians and corporations that have raised the price of medical care? Why not fight back against the companies that are breaking the back of small business?
A contract is an 'entitlement'? Are you kidding? When you work, you don't want to know how much you will be making and how many hours you will be working? Of course you do! You're being nonsensical in your (feeble) attempt to make a point.

Of course, all of that post is still a straw man, since the TAA offered to pay for health insurance provided that the premiums would not be allowed to rise at a disproportionate rate to salary; the state rejected it. Another poster said (and it bears repeating) that the TAA has made several offers that would have cost the state less than their offer, but it was also ignored. If anyone is to be excoriated for greed and realpolitik, it is the state, who wants to cut funding to the university and taxes. You just can't have it both ways, as evidenced by the ~40% tuition increase of the past two years.

The TAA has made offers that would have cost the state less money; the state has rejected them. The state has explicitly told the TAA the push for health care premiums is a strictly politcal (and NOT economic) move. And you want the TAA to be disbanded?

yay for free markets! yay for the race to the bottom! yay for slave TA labor!

the TAA is kidding itself is it thinks that its members are above the other state employees in Wisconsin. Lets have another look at the stats that the TAA members always claim show that they are paid less and have less benefit than 'peer' institutions. From the debate last year, many of the schools that were cited as having better pay and benefits were from California and other higher cost of living areas. Well, duh! Of course these people are going to be compensated more. But, when you consider how much it cost to live in that area, its a no brainer as to why they get paid more.

Also, the strike last year may have been 'well organized'. Hell, anyone can organize a few hundred people to stand outside of university buildings and yell at students and block entryways. This doesn't, however, show how important the TA's are to the university in general. If I had the entire athletic department organize and block buildings and intimidate people walking by, I bet I could have caused the same exact problems as the TA's did last year. And...it would have been LEGAL for me to do it. The TAA on the otherhand is a union for a state position, and it is ILLEGAL for them to strike.

Its amazing that the TAA didn't learn last year that the state will not budge on their healthcare offer. Its a stone cold fact that people pay for their healthcare in America now. Its a harsh reality, and its something that the TAA needs to look at a little more deeply before they do anything drastic like the strike last year. YOU WON'T WIN TAA. THE STATE WILL NOT BACK DOWN!!!

Lastly, I can't believe that you actually think the majority of the undergraduate student body supports you. If you paid any attention to the press and statements made last year after the strike, it would have been completely obvious that the majority of undergraduates do NOT sympathize with you, and believe that you DO NOT care about the undergraduates and that you are just selfish...especially after walking out on the students that are the reason you have a job in the first place.

Thank you TAA, for your ignorance, your stubbornness, and your utter disregard for all of the undergraduates at this fine academic institution.

the TAA is kidding itself is it thinks that its members are above the other state employees in Wisconsin. Lets have another look at the stats that the TAA members always claim show that they are paid less and have less benefit than 'peer' institutions. From the debate last year, many of the schools that were cited as having better pay and benefits were from California and other higher cost of living areas. Well, duh! Of course these people are going to be compensated more. But, when you consider how much it cost to live in that area, its a no brainer as to why they get paid more.

Also, the strike last year may have been 'well organized'. Hell, anyone can organize a few hundred people to stand outside of university buildings and yell at students and block entryways. This doesn't, however, show how important the TA's are to the university in general. If I had the entire athletic department organize and block buildings and intimidate people walking by, I bet I could have caused the same exact problems as the TA's did last year. And...it would have been LEGAL for me to do it. The TAA on the otherhand is a union for a state position, and it is ILLEGAL for them to strike.

Its amazing that the TAA didn't learn last year that the state will not budge on their healthcare offer. Its a stone cold fact that people pay for their healthcare in America now. Its a harsh reality, and its something that the TAA needs to look at a little more deeply before they do anything drastic like the strike last year. YOU WON'T WIN TAA. THE STATE WILL NOT BACK DOWN!!!

Lastly, I can't believe that you actually think the majority of the undergraduate student body supports you. If you paid any attention to the press and statements made last year after the strike, it would have been completely obvious that the majority of undergraduates do NOT sympathize with you, and believe that you DO NOT care about the undergraduates and that you are just selfish...especially after walking out on the students that are the reason you have a job in the first place.

Thank you TAA, for your ignorance, your stubbornness, and your utter disregard for all of the undergraduates at this fine academic institution.

agreed man...couldn't have said it better. TAA, grow up!!

"Unions are the scourge of the United States. An impediment to free market forces. These TAAs are free to choose to work elsewhere, and if it got the point that Wisconsin could not attract qualified TAAs, they'd be forced to raise wages to do so."

Ok, so let's disband the TAA and let free market forces dictate wages. None of the TA's will want to work for the wages they would be offered then, so the professors would have to teach instead of them. Since TA's do about 60% of the teaching at UW and cost about 15% of what it would cost to pay a professor to cover those teaching hours, your tuition will probably have to double.

Now let's apply free market forces to your tuition, which we've already decided needs to double. If the legislature and the governor get their way, your tuition would have to go up another 15%; let's assume it's still just 15%, even though costs will increase now that you have to pay professors more and hire more professors to cover all your classes. Now you're paying tuition roughly equivalent to what you'd be paying at a private university.

"But that's not fair!" you complain. I understand completely, so maybe we can cut some corners somewhere to save you a little money.

You didn't really need heat in your classrooms, did you?

You don't really mind having 500 people in your smallest classes, do you?

You don't mind having course selection cut to the bare minimum, so that now you have to come here for six or seven years just to meet the most basic requirements for graduation, do you?

And forget about financial aid for poor people. We don't really want to go to school with poor people anyway.

And since there are no poor people anymore, we won't have very many minorities either, since they tend to be disproportionately poor. Yep, nothing but us rich white people here at UW. That is what you wanted, isn't it?

If it is, you're probably the single dumbest person ever to set foot on our campus.

But maybe I should give you a little more credit. You couldn't possibly be that big a tool, could you?

Maybe when you said we should let free market forces dictate wages, you meant that TAA members should be paid in line with what TA's at comparable universities are paid. If that's what you meant, then you favor giving our TA's a 10% raise and far better benefits.

Is that what you meant?

I'm a TAA member, and I argued strongly against the strike last year. I acknowledge that the strike was illegal, and I am ashamed of my union for taking an illegal action, but you're kidding yourself if you think the state has not broken the law itself. State law dictates that the state's negotiating committee must engage the TAA in good faith negotiations. They did not do that. Instead, they walked into the very first bargaining session and said, "here's what we're offering you, it doesn't keep up with inflation, and we're effectively cutting your pay by charging you for benefits, and you don't have any choice but to take it." The TAA's offer wasn't exactly realistic either, but at least the TAA made concessions in subsequent bargaining sessions.

I think most TAA member don't mind paying the $9 every month, but under the language proposed by the state, there is nothing stopping the state from changing that $9 to $900 in the next contract. I think if the state offered a health care package with increases indexed to raises (i.e., if salaries are raised 2%, monthly premiums can be raised no more than 2%), the TAA would vote to accept it. That way salaries go up enough to make up for the cost of having to pay monthly health premiums, though TA's salaries still won't keep up with inflation and TAA members will still be paid far less than TA's at comparable universities.

Hey TAA members, I have an idea for you! If you're still so pissed at the state, go on strike again! Try it and see what happens!

Oh, the suspense is killing me...will you call me an asshole again (sidewalk chalkings)? Will you call me a "lazy professorial [sic] wannabe" (WSJ)? Will you call for job to be taken away from me?
Since you can apparently predict the future, you should be able to answer the following question without a problem: you would like to know how much you will be paid and how many hours you are expected to work - you want a contract. Your employer, however, refuses to make any alterations to their original offer (no pay raise, pay for premiums, no language to control rate increases) for months on end. Tens of thousands of other employees are in the same boat as you. You qualify for housing assistance and food stamps, but you cannot receive them as you are also a student. The head of the committee that is supposedly negotiating with you has an openly-stated grudge against you. The committee you are supposedly negotiating with has made it clear that they will not actually negotiate, and that their motivations are wholly political. Do you actually expect anyone to believe that you would roll over and just take a pay cut, one that could cut your future earnings by 25% or more? If you had made concession after concession, made offers that would save your employer money, and they refused to negotiate, saying they were going to make 'an example of you', you would simply accept the situation?
I dare any of the 'string-'em-up' crowd to claim they would gladly take a pay cut, happily accept any monthly premium put forth - all while making about 10 grand a year (for a job that could be anywhere from 20-50/hours a week), no pay during summer.

To the poster who mentioned California - way to ignore the other universities on that list - in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania... it is not merely a question of 'cost-of-living' - which, of course, since the TA's haven't even had a cost-of-living raise (let alone a raise) in over two years, pushes the wage comparison even lower in favor of the other schools.

Since when did being a TA become a career, which is what you are making it sound like. You will have a very hard time convincing undergraduates that for the 2-6 years that you are a graduate student on this campus and being a TA that you need anything above minimum wage compensation. Undergraduates pay full tuition (with the exception of the minority of students that get scholarships), and they don't get health insurance for free, unless they have a plan through their parents. If you are planning on being a TA for the rest of your life, then I'll reason with you that you should be compensated more. However, I don't know anyone that says "MAN! I WANNA BE A TA WHEN I GROW UP!!!". You decided to go to graduate school, and hold off on a career for a few more years. Deal with the extra debt that came from your decision. Undergrads and non-TA grad students also have to go through the same hardships as you, with NO compensation.

I know some TAs that have said something along the lines of "well, with my undergraduate degree, going to grad school is the only option I have to get a decent job". Well, that might be true...but it was a decision that you made, and you should have forseen the consequences of that decision.

I have little respect for the TA's that decided to go on strike last year, strictly because they for some reason feel that they are so unbelievably important, that they should get better benefits than other state employees. I'll admit it, TAs are vital to the university, and improve its functionality and its education to undergraduates. However, when all other state employees pay for healthcare, and haven't gotten a pay raise for the next budget year, I don't think TAs should complain about paying $9 for healthcare a month.

In response to the statement that the state can increase the monthly payment for healthcare in the future...you're absolutely right. In fact, nearly every career in america also has this inevitable consequence for healthcare insurance. Why?? Well...in case you haven't heard, healthcare costs in the US are rising dramatically (amazing, I know). Why the TAA thinks they should be exempt from having to pay for this increase like everyone else does is beyond me.

One final note.... The TAA gets the state healthcare medical and prescription plans. These are by far the best plans, in terms of coverage, that a person in Wisconsin can get, due to the large number of state employees, and the bargaining power that the state has with this number of people. However, the amount of money that the TAA members would be paying monthly and with co-pays into the system for healthcare is well below the average for what a Wisconsin citizen would pay. Just something for you to consider when trying to find sympathy from others in the state.....

Yawn...and let's say it again...undergrad tuition does not pay for TA salaries.

I know there are some grad students posting on here. I can tell because I am one and I know our language,way of writing etc.

These people are idiots. Do not bother wasting your time on them. I know its hard, but no amount of reason, logic, or statistics will convince them so just give it up and try to teach your students who actually are open-minded to evidence. Most of the students her are smart, critical minded people. These idiots are not representative of our students.

so, since people don't agree with you, they are automatically idiots, right? And you criticize THEM for not being open-minded. Hmmmm...what are you doing. I nominate you for most hippocritical grad student of the year. Congrats

I'm almost positive that MOST students don't feel badly for you. So, although most students here are smart and critical minded people, these also are the same idiots you're ripping apart. I agree with the above post, you are closed-minded idiot.

What a bunch of whiny little self righteous conservative pricks! Why are you so bitter? Did your mothers not love you?

You rail against TA's wanting to be able to live above the poverty line but have no problem with corporate welfare and loopholes.

Did you know that from 1998-2002 40% of American Corporations paid ZERO dollars in taxes? ZERO. Not a penny. Why don't you target them with your bitter vitriole? Their evasion of tax laws is costing billions of dollars a year. Get a clue. You are not benefiting from conservative policies, you are not in the wealthy aristocracy that runs this country, you are not smarter or harder working than those less fortunate than you. You make me sick... and I mean literally sick. I want to throw up on your little faces and Tucker Carlson bowties.

"so, since people don't agree with you, they are automatically idiots, right?"

No, what makes them idiots is that they ignore facts and disagree with me when I am 100% correct.