Within days of Gov. Scott Walker introducing the details of his budget repair bill, the student government is taking action on portions of the bill they feel would have severe, negative affects on University of Wisconsin students, faculty and staff.

Associated Students of Madison representatives are now in the process of contacting various “swing-legislators” to advocate approving an amendment that would reduce the impact the bill would have on UW students, ASM Vice Chair Adam Johnson said.

Johnson said ASM hopes to convince legislators to change some of the “surprisingly simple” language within the bill so that research assistants, teaching assistants and graduate students would be exempt.

Johnson said although there is a lot of work ahead, he is hopeful that amendments to the bill will be made.

“Preliminary word is that there are offices who are willing to help us and are listening to what we have to say,” Johnson said.

Leaders in Associated Students of Madison said they consider UW’s graduate students, teaching assistants and research assistants to be those most directly affected by the proposed bill on campus, since it would essentially eliminate these groups’ ability to negotiate for benefits, like health care and tuition remission.

Under the proposed bill unions would lose their power to collectively bargain for all benefits but would still be allowed to negotiate their salaries, Johnson said.

However, most graduate students do not receive salaries, and instead are paid through tuition remission, where the state pays for all or part of their tuition.

The problem, according to Johnson, is that tuition remission is considered a “benefit” under the bill, and would be non-negotiable.

ASM Chair Brandon Williams said there are currently 9,116 high-caliber graduate students on campus, and he worries the quality of graduate students, faculty and staff attracted by UW would decrease under the new bill.

“These changes will drastically diminish the undergraduate and graduate experience on campus,” Williams said at a press conference Tuesday night, which was held by ASM and other student leaders from UW System institutions across the state.

The press conference created an outlet in which UW student representatives could stand up as one united voice in opposition to Walker’s proposed bill, said Tyler Borkowski, UW-Marinette’s student government vice president.

Student government representatives from UW-Milwaukee and UW-Eau Claire were at the conference and voiced similar concerns about overworked and underpaid professors.

UW-Eau Claire Student Body President Dylan Jambrek said he knows of many professors on his campus who are considering leaving the state in light of the legislation.

Jambrek read a statement from a UW-Stout student government representative who could not attend the meeting echoing similar sentiments as those in attendance, and a student from UW-Platteville set up a video statement in lieu of actually being at the conference.

In the video statement, UW-Platteville Student Senate President Johnathan Predaina, an aspiring teacher, said he also was worried teachers may uproot themselves and move out of state due to the legislation.