by James Parks, May 13, 2011
Despite the ongoing attacks on workers’ rights in the state, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (UWGB) faculty today voted 117– 2 for representation by AFT. This is the fifth UW campus to do so since Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to eliminate public employee bargaining was introduced.
Although Walker’s anti-worker bill now is being challenged in court, Republican lawmakers have said they intend to include its anti-collective bargaining provisions in the state budget, which already calls for drastic funding cuts to the University of Wisconsin system.
Aeron Haynie, an associate professor of English and humanities, says the faculty vote ties in to the burgeoning labor movement in Wisconsin. The movement has gained incredible momentum since the announcement of Walker’s anti-union bill in February, she says.
I’m proud to vote for a faculty union at UWGB. As we have seen this past year in Wisconsin, it is vital that working people join together and fight for our rights—our right to make decisions which affect the quality of education here in our state, and our right to decent benefits. Working together, as a union, makes our voices stronger.
University of Wisconsin faculty and academic staff were extended the right to collectively bargain in June 2009. Since then, faculty at six other campuses—UW-Eau Claire, UW-Superior, UW-La Crosse, UW-Stout, UW-River Falls and UW-Stevens Point—have voted in favor of collective bargaining representation. UW-Superior academic staff will vote on union representation next week.
