A provision in the Senate’s version of the Wisconsin budget that would allow University of Wisconsin System professors to unionize is being hotly contested by state Republicans.
Legislators have yet to pass the 2007-09 version of the budget, despite the original deadline for completion having passed ten weeks ago.
UW System spokesperson David Giroux said the clause calling for unionization was not proposed by any UW staff or professors, and UW has not taken a position on the provision.
"It is not our place to say whether our employees should or should not be represented," Giroux said. "This is an issue for our faculty and academic staff to decide."
Yet Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, said the Board of Regents should be opposed to UW professors unionizing and, therefore, encouraged them to take a strong stance against the clause. University professors are supposed to think outside the box and hold true to their beliefs, Grothman said. By unionizing, professors will be forced to think as one unit, instead of as individuals.
"I am aware of no top-flight university that has [a union for professors]," Grothman said.
A UW professor’s union, Grothman added, would push more responsibility onto teaching assistants as professors’ expensive bargaining sessions would take both time and money away from the classroom.
"This will result in higher tuition and lower quality professors," Grothman said. "Unions always look out for the worst workers and for the slackers."
However, Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, said unionization for all types of workers — including professors — has positive benefits.
Berceau said the state government has neglected the UW System and its professors in recent years. A union, she said, would provide a safe haven for professors to discuss and voice their concerns. She said she hopes the UW System will soon regain its status as a top priority for legislators.
"The Legislature [has not] been supporting the university. I’m hoping that turns around when the Democrats are in the majority in both houses," Berceau said. "Then we can turn around the years of cutting at the university and creating issues in terms of the university being able to offer competitive compensation."
A union, Berceau said, would benefit students as well as professors. Students from around the country and the world choose to study at UW because of the high-quality professors, and a union would keep the best faculty at UW because it would help them obtain the benefits and salary they want and deserve.
"When I went to [UW], one of the things that was exciting was all of my fellow students who came from around the nation to this university," Berceau said. "We’re not going to have that kind of geographical diversity if we don’t have the talented faculty."
Currently, 33 percent of UW System staff — not including professors — is unionized as state workers. While this provision has never been part of a budget proposal before, it has previously been introduced as a stand-alone piece of legislation.
