Academic Staff Assembly Document #382A

9 April 2007

Approved by the Academic Staff Assembly on April 9, 2007

Resolution on the Governor’s Budget Proposal Relating to Faculty and Academic Staff Labor Relations

Whereas, the Academic Staff Assembly at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in December 2006 voted unanimously to establish criteria under which collective bargaining enabling legislation would be acceptable, and

Whereas, the Governor’s proposed 2007-2009 biennial budget bill includes enabling legislation language that fails to meet some of the most important of those criteria, and

Whereas, historically all UW-Madison faculty and academic staff have been considered as one group for purposes of pay plan and benefit negotiations,

Whereas, the proposed legislation mandates that faculty and academic staff be in different bargaining units;

Therefore, let it be resolved that the UW-Madison Academic Staff Assembly opposes the Governor’s budget proposal relating to faculty and academic staff labor relations; and 

Further, let it be resolved that the UW-Madison Academic Staff Assembly favors legislation that enables faculty and academic staff of the university to choose to bargain collectively, but the Academic Staff Assembly does not support any legislative language that predetermines who may bargain or what collective bargaining units they may join. The terms and conditions for the implementation of collective bargaining for faculty and academic staff should be debated by the legislature as standalone legislation with ample time for public hearings and debate.