Your editorial unfortunately ignores or distorts the issues involved with Senate Majority Leader Dale Schultz' sponsored legislation, SB 452. This bill would enable UW System faculty and academic staff to vote on whether or not they would like collective bargaining representation. It would not automatically result in the unionization of anyone, it would merely enable votes to take place on a campus-by-campus basis, and by bargaining unit, i.e., faculty or academic staff, should there be sufficient interest to warrant such votes.

Your editorial omitted all mention of academic staff, of which there are twice as many than faculty here on the UW-Madison campus. Precious few faculty and no academic staff "negotiate the terms of their work" in any meaningful sense, as you have claimed, and none of either group currently have rights to bargain over across-the-board salary increases, health-care coverage and a host of other rights affecting working conditions and job security. However, virtually all other non-managerial public employees in Wisconsin, and faculty and academic employees at a great many institutions comparable to the UW System, do have the right to vote on union representation, and many have exercised that right.

Why are we currently deprived of this opportunity? Can there be any reasonable explanation for denying us this fundamental democratic right, or is the underlying thought behind your editorial simply that unions are bad, no matter what? Dale Schultz, to his credit, has not subscribed to this school of thought. He has even gone so far as to recognize that employee organizations might contribute to resolving labor relations disputes at UW, instead of relying exclusively on such agencies as the Equal Employment Relations Commission (EEOC) and the courts — a most costly practice.

Gov. Doyle has basically taken a similar position. Now that doesn't turn either one into "Jimmy Hoffa's most unlikely disciple," as you put it in Schultz' case, but it does indicate that both of them are dealing with the real world and democratic rights in the 21st century. It would be a real service to your readers if you would honestly come to grips with these issues as well.

David Nack

Vice President

United Faculty and Academic Staff, AFT Local 223