(AP) – Nearly 20,000 faculty and academic staff in the University of Wisconsin System would be allowed to form unions under a plan approved Tuesday by the Legislature’s budget committee.
The Joint Finance Committee voted 12-4 to allow up to 30 separate collective bargaining units in the UW System of 13 four-year universities and 13 two-year colleges. The measure will be included in the state budget plan it sends to the full Legislature for approval.
Democrats who voted for the measure say professors, researchers, instructors and other university employees deserve the same right to collectively bargain enjoyed by other state workers who aren’t managers.
“This is all about fairness,” said Rep. Cory Mason, D-Racine, who called the plan long overdue.
But Republicans complained the measure does not belong in the budget and could drive up labor costs when the state has a $6.6 billion budget shortfall.
“It has nothing to do with the budget. It has nothing to do with good government. It has nothing to do with solving the deficit or creating jobs,” said Rep. Robin Vos, R-Racine. “But it does have to do with taking care of your union buddies, which is what this is all about.”
The plan has been a top priority of AFT-Wisconsin, a public employees union that typically supports Democratic Party candidates. The union already has some affiliates on UW campuses, but they can’t collectively bargain.
Union President Bryan Kennedy, an instructor at UW-Milwaukee, said he expected a number of faculty and staff groups to begin organizing drives soon if the plan becomes law. Kennedy said one of the rallying cries will be to increase salaries, which are below the national average.
Another benefit would be to protect workers’ wages, he said.
Citing the state’s budget shortfall, Gov. Jim Doyle last week proposed canceling 2 percent raises for UW faculty and staff scheduled to take effect in June. Other state employees will get the raises unless their unions agree to reopen their contracts for negotiations.
Doyle, a Democrat, included the collective bargaining plan in his budget. The Democratic-controlled budget committee accepted much of Doyle’s plan but made a few changes, including allowing up to 30 bargaining units instead of the six proposed by the administration.
Nationwide, more than 318,000 faculty members are unionized in 575 collective bargaining units, according to the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. While faculty unions are found in 31 states, most are in California, New Jersey and New York.
The plan would allow faculty and staff on each four-year campus to vote to form separate unions to negotiate their wages, benefits and working conditions with the UW System Board of Regents. Faculty and staff in the UW Colleges and UW Extension could form similar units. Two authorized bargaining units also could vote to combine.
If units are formed, the UW System says it would need to hire up to 38 employees to conduct negotiations, administer contracts, resolve grievances and train managers at a cost of $2.2 million per year. The plan does not pay for those costs.
UW System spokesman David Giroux said the system was neutral on the plan, which could affect the system’s long-standing tradition of shared governance in which faculty, students and staff help set policies.
For instance, UW faculty can set rules for hiring, firing and investigating misconduct among themselves under the current structure. Many of those rules might instead be spelled out in union contracts in the future.
