UFAS News
United Faculty and Academic Staff (UFAS) is a labor union democratically organized
The new badger partnership
D
uring the fall
semester, Chancellor
Martin rolled out a
proposal to dramatically
alter the nature of the
University of Wisconsin-
Madison, calling her set of
principles the “New Badger
Partnership.” The Chancellor
couches her proposal in the
logic of “marketization” of
the University’s role and
operation, calling for a “new
business model” for the
Madison campus.
Relying upon terms like
“autonomy” and “flexibility,”
the proposal looks at
four main areas of major
revisions to the University’s
relationship with the State
of Wisconsin and its people,
as well as the operations of
the University itself. Two
of the four areas include
relatively unobjectionable
procurement and contracting
reforms, although these
are not without concern
to some. The other two
include tuition-setting
authority, implicating large-
scale increases to student
tu i ti o n , a n d p e r s o n n e l
practices, potentially
ending civil service and
collective bargaining rights
f o r Un i ve r s i t y w o rk e r s
from classified staff to
faculty to academic staff
to graduate student labor.
Other concerns stand with
the Chancellor’s proposal
to realize greater tuition
revenue by compromising
access of Wisconsin families
to UW-Madison, which she
proposes to achieve by lifting
to represent its members—faculty and academic staff at both the UW-Madison and UW-Extension.
UFAS is an independent affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, Local #223, AFL-CIO.
requirements on the number
of in-state students and caps
on out-of-state students. Still
other concerns stand with
the structure of any shared
governance provisions.
Some critics of the
C h a n c e l l o r ’s p r o p o s a l
conceive of the Badger
Partnership as a de facto
privatization of the
University, although the
Chancellor denies this to
be her intention. Upon
the spectrum of university
privatization, looking at
previous instantiations like
the University of Michigan
or the University of Virginia,
the Chancellor declared
that her vision falls short
of the extremity of these
examples. However, the
proposal objectively calls
for separation from the
University of Wisconsin
System and an unmooring
Governor Walker, don’t break our hearts!
U
FA S i s a p ro u d
co-sponsor of
the “I [heart]
UW / Governor Walker,
Don’t Break My Heart”
campaign, initiated by our
sister union, the Teaching
Assistants Association
(TAA), AFT Local 3220.
The new state
government is threatening
massive budget cuts for
higher education. This will
cause tuition to skyrocket,
compromise the quality
of the University, and
UFAS News / February 2011 / http://wi.aft.org/ufas/index.cfm
from state government.
Alongside this extrication
of the University from ties
to other public institutions
of Wisconsin, the proposal
acknowledges that state
funding for the Madison
campus will drop further,
leaving that baseline policy
unchallenged.
The proposal puts
into relief the notion that
at times, the interests of
University Administration
align with members of the
campus community, like
students and workers, while
at other times, those interests
diverge.
At present, the full details
of what the Chancellor
proposes neither are known
to nor fully developed for
the public. Many questions
re m a i n , i n c l u d i n g t h e
gover nance str ucture
of a board of tr ustees,
erode access to affordable
public education. We need
to prevent budget cuts to
the University, and Governor
Walker’s budget proposal is
the first step.
Academic staff, faculty,
a n d s tu d e n ts f ro m th e
Un i v e r s i t y c o m m u n i t y
are coming together on
Valentine’s Day to deliver
our message of opposition
to higher education budget
cuts. UFAS is distributing
thousands of Valentines
cards to academic staff and
tuition-setting authority,
relationship of workers to
the state government or
a University “authority,”
and collective bargaining
rights for all University
workers. In practical effect,
any proposal, with fuller
detail or otherwise, will
need to be taken up by
the state legislature and
the new governor, so as to
make legislative changes to
statutes and administrative
codes. At a time when the
n e w s t a t e g ov e r n m e n t
probably is not favorably
disposed to many elements
of the University community
and their concerns, this
prospect troubles many.
Observers of the process and
those who have investigated
the Badger Partnership
expect that some aspects
of the proposal, if not the
Continued on page 2
faculty asking Scott Walker
not to break our heart, i.e.,
not to cut funding for the
UW in his budget. Look
for your card within this
newsletter and be sure to
sign and return it to UFAS
President Jim Molenda
(5024 WIMR 1111 Highland
Ave) by Friday, February
11. Then join us and other
signers to deliver the cards
to his office on Monday,
February 14, at noon.

Partnership
Continued from page 1
entirety of a package from
University Administration,
will be included in Governor
Walker’s budget, set to be
introduced sometime in
February.
Following a ser ies
o f c a m p u s f o ra l e d by
the Chancellor, campus
unionists and student
activists convened to
examine the implications
of this proposal on the
Un i ve r s i t y c o m m u n i t y.
This group includes not
only members of UFAS,
but also AFT brothers and
sisters from the Teaching
Assistants’ Association and
the Wisconsin Professional
Employees Council,
as well as AFSCME #171
and AFSCME #2412.
Undergraduate students
include the Student Labor
Action Coalition, members
of other student groups, and
individual members of the
student government.
Gathering together many
concerns and questions
about both the content of
the Badger Partnership and
the exclusionary process
by which it developed, this
student-worker alliance sent
a letter to the Chancellor
calling for a halt in forward
momentum around
the proposal. The group
expressed trepidation about
such quick action on a
massive restructuring of
the University, particularly
at a time when a new state
g ov e r n m e n t c o u l d n o t
be trusted to account for
the best interests of the
campus community as a
whole as well as particular
constituencies, including
students, academics, and
other workers. Further,
UFAS News / February 2011 / http://wi.aft.org/ufas/index.cfm
the group questioned
what problems the Badger
Partnership purported to
solve, and if those solutions
represented the best
approach. Responding to
the letter, the Chancellor
met with the group and upon
request of the latter, created a
new working group to take up
the concerns and questions
expressed by many parts
of the campus community.
This working group includes
representatives from the
student-worker alliance as
well as appointees from
various shared governance
bodies.
However, the Badger
Partnership does not exist
in isolation from a broader
context. Years, even decades,
of declining state funding
for the University and a
state government seeking
to slash funding for public
institutions further trouble
many looking out for the
future of the broad public
mission of UW-Madison
in teaching, research and
outreach. Attacks on workers
by the new state government
threaten recently-granted
collective bargaining rights
for faculty and academic
UFAS co-sponsors state budget roundtable
U
FA S i s o n e o f
several campus
organizations co-
sponsoring a state budget
roundtable on Thursday,
February 10 at 4pm in the
Wisconsin Idea Room in the
Education Building. The
forum will feature several
experts on the state budget
process: Vice Chancellor
for Administration Darrell
Bazzell, lawyer/lobbyist
Peter Christianson, and
staff as well as classified and
graduate student workers.
Skyrocketing tuition and
fees threaten to further
compromise access to
quality, affordable public
education for Wisconsin
families and students. Amidst
this climate of austerity
for public institutions and
the attacks on students
and workers, the group of
campus activists who came
together around mutual
concerns with the Badger
Partnership now focuses its
attention upon the broader
threats to the University
community, many of which
intersect directly with the
Chancellor’s proposal.
While participating in the
workgroup formed by the
Chancellor so as to advocate
for a fuller set of details
fleshing out the Badger
Partnership which might
account for the concerns
of students and workers,
the student-worker alliance
recognizes that this process
alone will not guarantee
that the best interests of the
University community will
be realized.
The student-worker
alliance, now loosely
State Representative Mark
Pocan (D-Madison). Jack
O’Meara, PROFS legislative
representative, will
moderate. Other campus
organizations co-sponsoring
the forum are: PROFS (a
v o l u n t a r y, n o n - p r o f i t
membership organization
of UW-Madison faculty),
TAA ( Teaching Assistants
Association), CAPE
(Coalition for Affordable
Public Education), WUU
calling itself “Defend the
Wisconsin Idea,” is working
to build a campaign to
protect the people of the
campus community and the
University they hold dear.
In the face of impending
threats to our University
community, the student-
worker alliance seeks to
organize within the campus
community and among the
broad stakeholders of the
people of Wisconsin to stand
up for a public university
that serves the public good.
Any member of the campus
community, including and
especially members of UFAS,
is invited to get involved
with the work of Defend the
Wisconsin Idea; to do so,
UFAS members can contact
President Jim Molenda to get
connected to the student-
worker alliance.
Peter Rickman is a
member of the Teaching
Assistants’ Association, AFT
#3220, the graduate student
workers’ union at UW-
Madison. He also serves as
Vice President At-Large of
AFT-Wisconsin and sits on the
state federation’s Committee
on Political Education and
Organizing Committee.
( Wisconsin University
Union), and the Wisconsin
Student Lobby.
The aim of the forum
is to help the campus
community better
understand Wisconsin’s
budget process. While
the budget will not be
introduced until later in
February, some hints may
be offered during Governor
Walker’s State of State
address on February 1.
 UFAS News / February 2011 / http://wi.aft.org/ufas/index.cfm

UFAS and unit clarification of academic staff

By David Nack bargaining, like other state charge of labor relations in all reasons that normally

U
e m p l oy e e s, w e s a w a n Wisconsin’s public sector, would create interest in
nited Faculty and
inherent contradiction in the Wisconsin Employment unionization, UW Madison
Academic Staff
trying to absorb these folks Re l a t i o n s C o m m i s s i o n academic staff are still
(UFAS), American
into unions without a voting (WERC), has to determine not organizing yet. (In
Federation of Teachers (AFT)
process taking place. It’s who is eligible to vote contrast, academic staff
Local 223, has a long and
just plain wrong—people before a vote on union and faculty have already
consistent track record on the
should have a say about representation can take begun organizing at other
subject of unit clarification
whether or not they want place. The academic staff UW System campuses.)
of academic staff. Having
union representation—not who are truly misclassified UFAS thinks other unions
struggled many years to
simply be shoved into unions would be ruled ineligible to will eventually see the futility
win collective bargaining
against their will. In short, we vote by WERC and placed in of their chosen path and
rights for UW faculty and
believe in democracy. the appropriate bargaining will have to go to Plan B
academic staff together
2. We didn’t think unit unit. That is how the process when it comes to organizing
with AFT and allies in
clarification would work, and works under Wisconsin law, UW-Madison academic
organized labor, we believed
that it was likely to be seen but we believe that only a staff. Plan B is what UFAS
and fought for a second
by UW-Madison academic small group of academic has advocated all along—
campaign to win the hearts
staff as a hostile move aimed staff would be affected in this persuading a majority of
and minds of a majority of
more at collecting dues way. UW-Madison academic staff
faculty and academic staff.
money rather than providing Where are we now? So to form their own union
When proposals were made
effective representation by far we believe that UFAS’s because it is in their interest
to accrete large numbers
building a rank-and-file position has been proven to do so. That is how the
of UW-Madison academic
democratic union from the right. UW-Madison vast majority of American
staff to existing bargaining
bottom up. academic staff insist that unions have been organized
units represented by the
3. We argued that the they have rights to vote, in the first place. Why will
Wisconsin Professional
legal obstacles and resistance as we predicted, and large UW-Madison academic staff
Employees Council,
by UW System and the numbers of them have come to this conclusion?
Wisconsin State Employees
State would be enormous, been antagonized by the Because they, like others who
Union, and others, UFAS
resulting in litigation that massive unit clarification work for a living, need job
argued this was not the way
would be time consuming, approach that other unions rights, decent wages, benefits
to go and has maintained
costly and ultimately adopted. Costly litigation and working conditions.
this position. Here are the
insurmountable. Also, we that likely will take years to In today’s economy and
main reasons why:
argued that there is no resolve has already begun, political environment all
1. Having worked for
legal precedent to unionize and we believe that unions of these things are at risk
years to gain collective
thousands of academic staff seeking unit clarification and can only be protected
bargaining rights on the
in this way. are very likely to lose this through effective union
basis that faculty and
UFAS always understood effort. Meanwhile despite representation. We need to
academic staff have a right
that some unit clarification furloughs, wage freezes and unite to fight for our rights,
to vote whether they want
would take place because cuts, and possibly worse and the sooner we get on
to be represented by a union
the regulatory authority in coming down the road, with that effort the better.
for purposes of collective

UFAS Officers
Jim Molenda – President.......................................molendajim@gmail.com........................................ w: 608/265-5933
Chad Goldberg – Vice President...........................cgoldber@ssc.wisc.edu........................................... w: 608/262-2108
Michelle Bright – Treasurer...................................mbright@cows.org................................................. w: 608/890-2543
Alec Widerski – Secretary......................................alwiderski@admissions.wisc.edu........................... w: 608/262-1014
For additional information, please visit the UFAS website at http://wi.aft.org/ufas/
For additional information on higher education organizing, visit www.aftwhighered.org.
 I
UW
Governor Walker,
donÕt break my
 No Budget
Cuts for UW
Governor Walker, be my Valentine. DonÕt
break my heart by cutting funding for UW.

The University System is the beating

heart of a vibrant Wisconsin economy.
Every $1 of state money put into the UW
generates $21 in economic activity.

Access to affordable, quality public

education matters to all Wisconsin
families. Have a heart, donÕt tear the UW
apart. Make sure UW gets all the love we
need in your budget proposal.

Love,

Name:

Hometown:
MIL WI
WAU
KEE • MADISON
 UFAS News / February 2011 / http://wi.aft.org/ufas/index.cfm

United Faculty & Academic Staff, American Federation of Teachers Local 223
http://wi.aft.org/ufas/index.cfm

UNION YES!
Unions are about solidarity and collective action. One of the ways we act together is pooling our
resources. By pooling resources, we can accomplish more together than any one of us can on our own.

Effective immediately, I hereby request and authorize the University of Wisconsin to deduct from my salary each
month a sufficient amount to provide the monthly payment of my dues for UFAS, AFT Local 223.
¥ This is a continuous authorization from year to year applying to the then-current Local 223 dues.
¥ Dues will be deducted from each salary check issued by the University.
¥ This authorization will remain in effect as long as I am employed at the University unless terminated by me
upon written notice to: UW-Madison Payroll Office, 21 N. Park Street, Suite 5105, Madison, WI 53715.
¥ Termination of University employment will automatically terminate dues deduction.
¥ Dues are nine-tenths of one percent (0.9%) of annual gross salary.

Name _________________________________________________________________________ Title _________________________________________

School/College ________________________ Department _______________________ Building _________________________ Room ______________
Office Phone ___________________________ Home Phone _________________________ Email ____________________________________________
Home Address _________________________________________________________ City _______________________ State ________ Zip __________
Signature _____________________________________________________________________________________________ Date __________________

Mail to: UFAS, P.O. Box 260323, Madison, WI 53726-0323 rld/opeiu#9/afl-cio/052809/UFAS-AuthForPayrollDed.pmd