The official lobbying organization of University of Wisconsin System academic staff is contesting the language of its labor contract proposed in Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle's state budget. Separate branches of the Academic Staff Professionals Representation Organization — which represents the interests of all system academic staff — issued multiple resolutions this month opposing the collective bargaining language in the 2007-09 state budget proposal. Under the proposed budget, 14 separate bargaining units would be created — one for each faculty group on the 13 campuses, and one for academic staff systemwide. However, ASPRO board member Dave Carlson, the lead representative of the UW System's 13 two-year campuses, said the board rejects the proposed language of the new collective bargaining agreement because the language creates a series of divisions. "It divides staff from faculty, institution from institution and the supervisor from the supervised," Carlson said. ASPRO Vice President Dennis Shaw, chair of UW-Stout's Senate of Academic Staff, also opposes the legislation, saying it pushes staff apart. "It specifically mandates that the faculty and academic staff must belong to separate collective bargaining units [and have] no option to combine, effectively decoupling faculty and academic staff pay and benefit plans," Shaw said. Composed by Shaw and others, the UW-Stout Senate of Academic Staff's resolution against the language of the proposed collective bargaining accuses the legislation of being biased by showing favor to faculty members. "[It] place[s] the faculty at Madison and Milwaukee in the best position to demand and receive an unfair part of any compensation package approved by the Legislature," Shaw said. UW-Madison faculty and UW-Oshkosh ASPRO have also formally rejected the legislation. Despite the opposition, the United Faculty and Academic Staff labor union supports the legislation. According to union president Frank Emspak, the stronger issue is the right to vote for union representation. Currently, Emspak said UW-Madison's staff and faculty have neither unions nor the option to create unions. However, he said the legislation would allow staff and faculty to vote for unions if they choose to do so. "Faculty and staff should have the right to decide," Emspak said. "It has nothing to do with dividing the faculty from staff or institution from institution — it's simply about implementing the democratic process at all levels of society." Carol Weidle, a member of UFAS, said passing the legislation would provide all UW employees with a "voice." According to Weidle, the legislation will allow UW faculty to make decisions on work schedules and holidays — issues the current faculty have no control over. Both Carlson and Shaw emphasized they are not against the legislation, but felt it should be removed from the budget and introduced as a separate piece of legislation. "It [deserves] the proper attention and debate," Carlson said in a press release. "We're not a union, and we're not anti-union." No dates have been officially set to settle these issues.