Last Friday, Dec. 5, the University of Wisconsin Teaching Assistants’ Association marched to the capitol while singing “labor carols” to join other campus unions and organizations that also gathered to draw attention to the tuition hikes and increasing health-care premiums.

Those who joined in the rally expressed primary concern over the hikes in their health-care coverage.

“There are certain issues that are important in contract talks. Health care is certainly one of these issues. Right now, the TAs are very concerned about it,” geography graduate student Dawn Biehler said.

The health-care issue was commented on by several graduate students, some directly connecting it to the problems with paying for health care for TAs with children.

“Currently we have a non-cost option for health care and recently the university said [it] wants us to begin paying. For those who have kids, free health care is a necessity. But, also, once they start asking us to pay for a little, it just keeps going up every year,” English graduate student Rob Simmett said. “There is a precedent at University of Michigan, who originally wanted [its] grad students to pay for a bit of their health care and now want them to pay for it all.”

Biehler also noted the problems with paying for health care and continuing to pay for all of their previous expenses.

“The fact that we are be asked to start paying for health care will decrease our ability to pay for other important things,” Biehler said. “It’s going to be harder to attract really talented students since free health care is one of the big selling points for University of Wisconsin-Madison. And they just aren’t offering wages that are going to keep up with the cost of living.”

The rally, which ended at the Capitol, had several speakers and approximately 100 people were there to support the health-care issue, but they also were concerned about the rising cost of education.

“Stopping the giveaways to the rich will allow our resources to go toward health care for every citizen, and an education for every child,” said Randy Brink, executive board member of AFSCME Local 171, the union representing blue-collar and technical workers on campus.

“Naughty legislators have spent all year debating gun control rather than developing solutions that will help Wisconsin’s working families, state workers, and students. Meanwhile, nice state workers have been toiling hard all year in the face of budget cuts, layoffs, and concessionary bargaining, said Mike Quieto, another concerned TAA member.

Among the carols sung on the way to the Capitol included “Poverty Wage,” sung to the tune of “Jingle Bells,” which included the lyrics “Oh, Poverty wage, poverty wage, doesn’t pay the bills. Overwork and underpay, Makes us all feel ill.” Gatherers also sang “Rudolph the Union Reindeer” and “Hark, The Union Workers,” among many others.

Other organizations who joined the TAA included Student Labor Action, the Associated Students of Madison, the Technical, Clerical, and Janitorial unions, and Tyson workers.

“We’re trying to create solidarity between these groups so that we can fight this together,” Biehler said.