Academic Staff Document #340a

November 8, 2004

DRAFT - dated 11-8-2004

Resolution in support of the Board of Regents 2005-07 Budget Proposal

The UW-Madison Academic Staff Assembly endorses the 2005-07 budget proposal of the UW Board of Regents that provides for an unclassified pay plan to bring faculty, academic staff and graduate assistants to the average salaries of peer institutions in 2003-04. This adjustment, to recover lost market position, would supplement the regular pay plan needed to keep salaries competitive through 2005-07.

The Assembly also endorses the UW Board of Regents policy of equal pay plans for all categories of academic staff and faculty. We note that the policy of not differentiating between groups of unclassified employees has been followed over the last decade or more, and we endorse this established precedent.

The UW-Madison Academic Staff Assembly asks Governor Jim Doyle and the State Legislature to support the Board of Regents budget proposal for a market adjustment, and that it be applied equally to all unclassified staff.

Explanation
The UW-Madison Academic Staff Assembly notes the following:
" While our pay plans were minimal during the 2003-05 biennium due to the state budget crisis, many of our competitor universities increased their faculty and staff salaries more rapidly. The Board of Regents pay plan calling for a 3 percent per year increase to supplement the regular pay plan is a necessary first step in addressing the fact that over the past fifteen years compensation for academic staff at the UW has fallen behind the median of peer institutions by at least 17%.

" The Board of Regents policy of equal pay plans was adhered to during the 1999-2001 biennium when supplemental market adjustments were funded as part of the operating budget proposal. In that biennium, the base pay plan was 5.2 percent each year. In addition, a Competitive Compensation adjustment of 2.5 percent the first year and 2.3 in the second year was awarded to UW-Madison faculty and academic staff as part of a special budget initiative for the Madison campus. The Assembly endorses this prior precedent of equal pay plans for both faculty and all categories of academic staff.

" Competitive compensation levels for academic staff serve to maintain and strengthen the quality of instruction, maintain competitive strength in capturing federal research grants, provide quality academic advising and support services for students, sustain quality library services, and contribute to the mission of the university in many other ways.

" At UW-Madison, less than ten percent of academic staff hold positions defined as "administrative" positions in a 2004 audit by the Legislative Audit Bureau. While administrative positions are often very necessary, the vast majority of academic staff have a more direct role in supporting and advancing the core missions of the university.

" At UW-Madison, 50 percent of academic staff hold positions funded from extramural sources, including the federal government, gifts and donations, and revenue from intercollegiate athletics. Compensation increases for academic staff would be funded from those sources as well.