OPINION & EDITORIAL
Finally.
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Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:
- A security fee-for-all (December 11, 2007)
- Farewell, Chancellor (December 10, 2007)
- $$FC (December 6, 2007)
- In a bind (December 5, 2007)
- Entitlement Town (December 4, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Finding the dotted line (November 2, 2005)
- Call for law (April 29, 2004)
- Endgame (September 14, 2005)
- TAA: Accept deal on table (April 8, 2004)
- Frustration with Teaching Assistants Association grows (November 1, 2005)
by Badger Herald Editorial Board
Monday, November 21, 2005
At long last, a deal has been struck.
Last Wednesday, the Teaching Assistants Association and the Office of State Employee Relations tentatively agreed on contracts for the 2003-05 and 2005-07 biennia. The contracts, which must still be ratified by the TAA membership, approved by the state Legislature and signed by the governor, represent the latest chapter in the soap opera that began almost as soon as the last contract was signed.
We hope this is the final chapter.
The teaching assistants in Madison have worked without a contract for far too long. Members and non-members alike have been hurt by the stubborn and often childish actions of both TAA and OSER negotiators. This board is happy and relieved the two groups have finally come together and found an equitable agreement.
While the TAA is being unusually tight-lipped about the deal, it is clear from its ballot summary, obtained by The Badger Herald, that both sides have made healthy concessions. The TAA has agreed to the highly contentious addition of health-care premiums, but it seems that a number of offsets cover that cost — the $163 one-time bonus is suspiciously just $1 more than health care for the entirety of 2006.
In addition, the TAA gave up on substantial increases for the 2003-05 agreement in favor of health-pay increases on the 2005-07 contract. The average pay increase during the new contract is 8.24 percent, including a whopping 11.13 percent for new TAs and 16.61 percent for graders.
In addition to the pay raises, the contracts have clear non-economic benefits for all TAs, including prohibiting hiring graduate students as hourly employees when their duties clearly fall within a TA or PA context, changes to the grievance system and adding a "Me Too" clause that would link the TAA's general wage adjustment to other state employee unions.
With such clear benefits for teaching assistants, we strongly encourage the TAA membership to ratify and the Legislature to quickly approve the contracts. The sooner University of Wisconsin TAs are covered under the new contracts, the better for all parties involved.
We are happy the TAA has finally agreed with OSER on a contract. After the ups and downs of the past two years, including a disastrous strike and walking away from multiple deals, it is nice to see the TAA has managed to pull a rabbit out of its hat and hand its membership an excellent contract.
Now we just need to get that signature.
Anonymous (November 21, 2005 @ 9:14am):
And the Badger Herald continues to obfuscate. The TAA hasn't "walked away" from any deals. They refused to accept the imposition of a contract that would have left their members in poverty. Even with the substantial raises, they're still barely making more than the poverty line. And without them, professors would have to do a lot more teaching. Since professors make a lot more money than TA's, your tuition would increase accordingly -- probably by another 10% or more. You should get down on your knees and thank the TAA for being so reasonable.
