Academic Staff Assembly Document #422a

March 8, 2010

Approved by the UW-Madison Academic Staff Assembly on March 8, 2010

Resolution Opposing Unit Clarification Requests filed by the Unions

Whereas, The Wisconsin Professional Employees Council (WPEC), Wisconsin Physician and Dentist Association, Wisconsin State Employees Union (WSEU), and Professional Employees in Research, Statistics and Analysis (PERSA) have filed petitions for unit clarification with the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) to have 468 academic staff from several UW System campuses assigned to their collective bargaining units;

Whereas, Approval of the petitions would deny many academic staff from these campuses the fundamental right to choose whether or not to be represented by a union; and

Whereas, Approval of the petitions would also set a precedent for denying the right to choose to any UW-Madison academic staff member; therefore be it

Resolved, that the Academic Staff Assembly (ASA) of the University of Wisconsin-Madison strongly opposes this use of the unit clarification process; and further resolved that;

The ASA direct the UW-Madison Academic Staff Executive Committee to work with other UW System Academic Staff governance units, the UW Madison administration and the UW System Administration to actively oppose this use of the Unit Clarification process.

Facts Regarding Unit Clarification

1. From January 2005-December 2009 out of the 30 unit clarification cases heard by the

WERC, the median number of positions in these petitions is 1.

2. 93% of unit clarification cases were for 6 or fewer positions

3. There are 1209 academic staff members on the UW Madison campus who are in the job titles identified in these petitions.