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TAA Swarm and Nest: Week 1

February 26, 2009

On Monday, 2/23, 11 TAA member organizers (plus our two highly trained staff members) went out to Social Sciences, Ingraham, and Bascom. We had 42 conversations over 36 worker-hours of organizing, in which we signed up 3 new members, and found 16 new Organizers who will participate in Swarm and Nest this semester. We also identified 10 additional people who were likely to get involved with the TAA in the future.

These sorts of one-on-one conversations are the most important work the union does, and they're essential to creating a winning 2009-2011 contract campaign, and building a powerful culture of unionist workers, whose voices will be at the fore of the progressive movement of the 21st century.

Next week, on Tuesday, Mar. 3rd, we'll be meeting in Helen C. White, on the 5th floor, by the elevators to organize in HC White, North, and Science Hall. Sign up today (if you haven't already) by sending me an email at twfrandy@gmail.com, and saying which hour or two you can help between 10-4.

The following week, on Monday, Mar. 9th, we'll meet in Medical Sciences (in the lobby, near the entrance on University), and do visits to Chamberlain and Psychology between 10-4.

When you show up, you'll be paired up with someone who is already experienced at talking with TAs and PAs about work. That way, you can be mentored as you learn how to engage in discourse with your peers, improve working conditions for your co-workers, and build social movements. We hope to see you there.

posted by Tim Frandy

TAA's Political Education Committee on the Budget

February 19, 2009

You might have heard that this week, the Governor introduced his budget for the 2009-2011 biennium. As we all know, the crisis that confronts our nation's economy also confronts our state's budget. In this difficult time for policy-makers - and more difficult for us citizens on the receiving end of many of those policies - we saw some good news and some bad news coming out of the budget proposal.

First off, with the federal stimulus package coming in to Wisconsin, our state will have its own stimulus package even before dealing with the budget. That means more dollars in the economy and more for working people like us. That's good news.

Second, the proposed state budget puts forward a zero-increase for the UW system. While this might sound like bad news, it's actually relatively good. Most state agencies are taking cuts. We heard all along that a zero-increase was the best that the UW system could hope for. So we made it out without taking any cuts. For now.

Third, the governor's proposed budget is by far the most LGBT-friendly ever in Wisconsin. Domestic partnership rights for state employees, including us at the UW, are included. We fought for this, and we're seeing it happen. More good news.

The bad news is that there's little money to pump into the UW system that is needed more than ever. What happens for us at the bargaining table in the future will be directly related to what happens in this budget process. The number of jobs and amount of funding for graduate students is on the block. Same with our healthcare. Tuition, seg fees, and workloads follow closely behind. The bad news is that it looks like the UW system could be in for a rough go, and the budget of the university is always balanced on the backs of the education workers like us.

But the best news of all is that we can impact what happens in this budget process. We helped build a progressive majority in the statehouse and we have allies in the Capitol that will work with us to create the best outcomes for folks like us and for our UW system. But they need to hear from us.

Over the next couple of weeks, we'll be putting together a group of people that will help us lobby our state elected officials to do the right things in this budget. Will you join us on this advocacy team? Don't worry if you've never had experience. We'll train you up. But we need folks that care about what happens to graduate student workers and our university. If you fit that bill, let us know by sending an email to our Political Education Committee chair Peter Rickman at rickman@wisc.edu. We'll work to organize TAA members to be a force in the Capitol and make sure we hear more good news than bad this budget cycle.

posted by Tim Frandy

DP Benefits Included in Doyle's Budget, No Cuts for UW

February 18, 2009

Governor Doyle's 2009-2011 budget includes the creation of a Domestic Partner Registry, a way by which all state employees (including graduate employees and UW faculty and academic staff) will be able to procure health care for their domestic partners. The TAA has been fighting for such a registry for 17 years as a matter of basic fairness and to keep UW competitive with its peer institutions.

Additionally, the UW's base budget will remain more or less the same. Given Wisconsin's massive budget deficit, maintaining the status quo is not terrible news for higher education in Wisconsin. However dire our economic times, the UW still will need increased public support in the near future in order to maintain and restore its competitive edge as an Research I institution. Less than 20% of the UW's operating budget comes from public funds, and tuition increases are not longterm solutions to keep public institutions public. More information about Doyle's budget can be found from the Wisconsin State Journal.

University requests to continue funding already existing programs, a sum totaling approximately $120 million for the UW system, is in danger of being cut. And the $54 million dollars the state wishes to collect from the UW system for gifts, grants, fees, and tuition further adds to UW system's budget woes. As of today, nobody is yet certain what impacts the net $174 million shortfall will have on the UW system over the next two years. Read more here.

The budget still needs to be amended, voted on, and approved in the Wisconsin State Legislature in the coming weeks and months.

posted by Tim Frandy

Doyle's Budget May Include DP Benefits

February 14, 2009

Governor Doyle's 2009-2011 budget, to be revealed Tuesday, is likely to include domestic partner benefits for state employees, including UW system graduate employees, faculty and staff. This budget line will offer health care to all domestic partners of LGBTQ employees, as well as to partners of those heterosexual couples who choose not to marry. UW-Madison is the last school in the Big 10 to not offer domestic partner benefits.

TAA members have been actively trying to win domestic partner benefits for graduate employees since the early 1990s, and have been repeatedly thwarted by hostile majorities in the state legislature.

This fall, through on-campus grass roots member mobilization, and through our members' involvement in our political program to call and canvass fellow unionists in six contended assembly districts in southern Wisconsin, TAA activists were instrumental in bringing a political climate to Wisconsin that does make a priority of fairness and UW's competitiveness.

Although a declaration of victory is still premature, it is clear that we can accomplish great things collectively. We need to continue to work collectively to ensure that labor and higher education have prominent voices during the 21st century on the issues and crises of our age.

Click here to read the Wisconsin State Journal Article on DP benefits and the budget.

posted by Tim Frandy

Making a Difference in the Spring Elections

February 12, 2009

Elections do not just happen in the fall. Here in Wisconsin, we hold annual spring elections for a number of offices. While all elections and the democratic political process are important to us in unions, one race this spring is of particular importance to us.

In the fall of 2008, we helped to elect a pro-labor, pro-education, pro-UW state legislature. This body, or more appropriately the two bodies of the State Assembly and State Senate, impact us tremendously in their decisions on things like funding and higher education policy. But in Wisconsin, we also have an office for the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

This person is the highest elected official for education policy in our state, overseeing the public education system from K12 through the higher education system, running the Department of Public Instruction. As importantly, the Superintendent of Public Instruction is the only elected member of the UW Board of Regents, the body that governs the university system and our UW.

Clearly, this election will have a major impact on the policies put in place affecting our day-to-day lives, our work, and our careers - not to mention the entire system in which we operate. But equally important to the implications of who holds the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, this spring election will be something of a statewide referendum on public education in Wisconsin - and beyond.

Our state has a traditional commitment to quality public education. But over the years, this commitment has softened and waned. Funding for the university system from our state is down. The K12 system has eroded in many ways. Privatization and corporatization of education has grown, to the disservice of robust learning and education for democracy. The results of this spring election will have a big impact on us as workers, as students, and as members of the education community. The person in the office will matter and so will the judgment rendered on our commitment to public education.

The TAA will be working this spring to continue its organization and mobilization of members to play a significant role in this critical election. We can impact this election and both elect a candidate who shares our agenda of pro-labor, pro-education, progressive policy and make that agenda resonate loudly and clearly.

We will need your involvement to make the biggest impact possible. To get active on our campaign to advance the pro-labor, pro-education agenda through the democratic political process, please contact the chair of our Political Education Committee, Peter Rickman. And of course, don't forget to vote on Tuesday, February 17th in the primary and on Tuesday, April 7th in the general election.

[Due to campaign finance rules, we are unable to communicate our endorsement of a candidate in this or any election on our website directly. Members of the TAA will receive other individual communication on our endorsement and with any immediate questions on our endorsed candidate, please contact Peter Rickman.]

posted by Tim Frandy

Union Grassroots Lobby Day

February 11, 2009

We are working to protect our university in this current state legislative session by building a legislative advocacy program. But we need your help - and you can have a little fun along the way.

You're invited - nay, recruited - to join us next Monday at a reception/meet-and-greet and question-and-answer session with two of the state legislative leaders. Two key leaders in the State Senate and Assembly will come meet and speak with fellow union members on the evening of Monday the 16th at the Madison Labor Temple. Click here for all the details.

We need our legislative leaders to get the message loud and clear: Save our UW system and protect this university. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is the most important resource our state has, and we need to keep investing in the classroom and in the lab to make it the top-notch institution that it should be. We need to fund graduate student education, research, and work; the University works because we do.

So come on our to join us at this event to send that message to the legislative leadership. We need you there to send a strong message!

Now, we'd also like to ask you not only to join us at the event but also to come dressed in style. We have a box of special blue TAA t-shirts that send our message loud and clear, saying "The University Works Because We Do." We'd like you to wear one to the event so that we can stand in solidarity. RSVP to PEC Chair Peter Rickman at rickman@wisc.edu (or contact him with any questions) and we'll make sure to get you set up with a t-shirt.

You can click here for more information.

We need to mobilize to make our legislative advocacy campaign work. And this is an easy way for you to get involved right now. So see you next Monday, with your blue TAA shirt, ready to send a message to the state legislators: Save Our UW System and Protect Our University.

posted by Tim Frandy

TAA Members Endorse NO vote on ASM Constitutional Changes


At the February 10th General Membership Meeting, members of the TAA voted to endorse a NO vote on proposed ASM constitutional changes, which among other changes create an executive branch to the student government's bureaucracy. Further, membership voted to join the "Vote No Coalition," a coalition including:

Campus Women's Center
Student Progressive Dane
Working-Class Student Union
Student Tenant Union
Student-Labor Action Coalition
International Socialist Organization
Campus Antiwar Network
Action for Environmental Justice
MEChA
Sex Out Loud

posted by Tim Frandy

TAA Membership Approves New Contract

We are happy to report that the paper ballot vote my members
resulted in the passage of the tentative agreement between the
TAA and management. The next step in the process will be for the
state legislature to vote to ratify the contract. Once this step
is completed, the changes we won in negotiations will go into
effect. We're still waiting to hear from management on what a
time line for lump sum payments will likely be, but we will send
out that information, as well as a formula to calculate your
approximate lump sum payment when we get that information.

posted by Tim Frandy

 

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