Coercive questions on a possible method for research assistant unionization raised concern among those in attendance at a Thursday Wisconsin Election Relations Commission meeting.

Members of the American Teachers Federation-Wisconsin said they felt having union members not only sign the card, but also put the location and time they signed it could be a deterrent to signing.

One may not sign out of fear that an employer could see they signed it at work on company time, according to some who attended the meeting.

Those present at the meeting who spoke on the matter said they felt having the location and time on the card was unnecessary and intimidating, Davis said.

WERC spokesperson Peter Davis said while it was a fear of the members of the meeting, it is highly unlikely any employee would see an authorization card once signed.

“When something is documented, you tend to get more hesitant. People may completely agree, but may not want to sign the card. I think the rest of the proceedings went just time,” AFT-Wisconsin Graduate Employee Chair Sagar Tolani said, who attended the meeting.

Peter Rickman, president of the Teaching Assistant Association, said the ultimate focus of unionizing for RAs should be a democratic process, and the requirements on the cards were ‘Big Brother’-esque.

“Let’s make sure workers’ voices are at the center of this process and not more paperwork for bureaucrats,” Rickman said.

The proposed rules, which were up for discussion at the meeting, may make possible the use of authorization cards as opposed to the more traditional method of a secret ballot election.

The meeting was held so members of the public could voice their opinion on WERC proposed rules for RA unionizing.

Rickman said it would be in the best interest of the RAs to use rules for unionizing which have already been proven effective by other states. The additional information about location and time of signing is unnecessary and not part of other states’ rules.

“Let’s use what [other states] have,” Rickman said.

According to Davis, 10 people came to the meeting and four spoke. He said those four who spoke had some affiliation to the ATF-Wisconsin.

There were no expectations on attendance turnout, Davis added.

Employees from the University of Wisconsin System were members of the audience and Davis said the UW System would issue a written statement on the proceedings in the coming weeks and did not comment at the meetings.

Associated Students of Madison has made efforts to inform graduate students at the University of Wisconsin about the proposed rules and the WERC meeting.

Even though the turnout of the meeting was only 10 people, Student Council Rep. Colin Ingram said ASM sent out an e-mail to all graduate students at UW.

He speculated a reason for this relatively low turnout could be the meeting was hosted off campus at the WERC office.