Collective Bargaining in Guv's Budget Bill

Well as we suspected, Governor Doyle included language in his state budget that would allow faculty and academic staff to unionize and collectively bargain. As you might know our senate has long opposed any decoupling of faculty and academic staff pay plans, and so before the budget was introduced we passed a resolution opposing any bill that started with faculty and academic staff seperate.

Well, the language is even worse than we could have imagined. Not only does it start with seperate bargaining units (up to 6 in all, 1 for Faculty at Madison, 1 for Faculty at Milwaukee, 1 for Faculty at the other campuses, 1 for AS at Madison, 1 for AS at Milwaukee, and 1 for the rest of us AS), but it strictly forbids any faculty and academic staff units from combining.

We encourage you to make your voice hear with your legislators (of course you'll want to contact them from your own personal phone or email) and let them know if you are also concerned about this langauge that is grossly unfair to academic staff in the UW System!

Following is the language of our most senate recent resolution:

University of Wisconsin-Stout Senate of Academic Staff Resolution
Opposing any Collective Bargaining or Enabling Legislation
Language Where Academic Staff and Faculty are Separated

WHEREAS, the UW-Stout Senate of Academic Staff has long opposed the decoupling of faculty and academic staff benefits and compensation plans; and

WHEREAS, as recently as September 4, 2007 the UW-Stout Senate of Academic Staff unanimously adopted a resolution stating, “while we would not be opposed to the right to choose to collectively bargain, we will continue to oppose any bill including collective bargaining bills that would separate faculty and academic staff pay and benefit plans and thereby treat the 11,000 academic staff in the UW System unfairly and inequitably;” and

WHEREAS, legislation enabling collective bargaining for the UW System academic staff and faculty continues to be introduced that would create separate collective bargaining units for the academic staff and faculty on each campus; and

WHEREAS, separate collective bargaining units for the academic staff and faculty will place academic staff and faculty in competition for salary and fringe benefits; and

WHEREAS, any collective bargaining scheme that establishes separate academic staff and faculty bargaining units on each campus places the faculty at Madison and Milwaukee in the best position to demand and receive the majority share of limited state compensation dollars approved by the Legislature. Faculty at the comprehensive campuses would be in the next best position to compete for the remaining limited resources, placing academic staff in a position to settle unfairly for what, if anything, remains; and

WHEREAS, any legislative proposal that starts with separate academic staff and faculty collective bargaining units but offers a mechanism which allows for combining the two units if both agree does not guarantee, and only provides false hope, that the faculty would ever seriously chose fairness over self-interest and permit the units to combine; now

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of Academic Staff at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, strongly opposes any legislative proposals, now and in the future, that would grant collective bargaining rights to University of Wisconsin System academic staff and faculty that would establish an academic staff collective bargaining unit separate from the faculty collective bargaining unit.

Unanimously adopted at the February 11, 2009 business meeting of the Senate of Academic Staff

Report to the Foundation Board

Following is a report I submitted to the Foundation Board which will be meeting this weekend. It sums up what we have been working on in the Senate lately:

Greetings from the Senate of Academic Staff! Our senate has been very involved on campus again this year. Following are some of the items we have been working on:

• Reviewing the draft mission, vision, and values statements for the university.
• Working on a recommendation to provide more contract security for primarily teaching academic staff who have been at Stout many years.
• Approving appointments to campus committees
• Revising our academic staff personnel committee bylaws

We’ve also heard numerous reports on various topics including: Job Satisfaction Study, Salary Equity Study, Suitcase campus report (which basically says we are no more of a suitcase campus than any other campus in the UW), Annual Teaching Workload, Equity Scorecard Project, UCLA Faculty Study, Alumni Follow-Up Survey, StoutMedia Student Organization, to name a few.

The big impact item we are anxiously awaiting is the Governor’s budget address which is scheduled for next week. We are bracing to see what impact this will have on our campus and hoping the Governor will realize the importance of the university system as a priority in assisting the state in quickly resolving our economic crisis.

I understand you will be having several board members using technology to connect to campus and your meeting on Saturday. It should be an interesting test of the technology we regularly use for our distance education students. I hope you have a productive meeting and look forward, as always, to visiting with those of you who will be traveling to our beautiful campus!

Dennis Shaw, Chair
Senate of Academic Staff

Dec Board of Regents Meetings

I attended the Regents meetings in La Crosse yesterday and today and wanted to let you know what happened. Yesterday at the Business, Finance, Audit Committee meeting System reported that we should know agency reduction targets in the next 7-10 days. That surprised us. It might just be targets for addressing this year's shortfall. They weren't clear about that.

As you might know if you were listening in, they did approve in committee, and today the board as a whole approved a 2.5% raise in each of the next two years and a recommendation for domestic partner
benefits.

There was quite a discussion of the cost of textbooks at the meeting today. In the end Senior Vice President Martin said she would be meeting with the faculty reps next week and would discuss the issue there. They also mentioned they are seriously looking into how a 3-year Bachelor degree would work. Interesting discussions.

Off to Regents' Meeting

My Chair's report for the November Senate meeting will be delayed a few days. I had an interesting meeting with the state Academic Staff Reps last Friday but I am off to attend the Regents' Meeting as they talk about Academic Staff and Faculty recruitment and retention issues. I'll post a report after I return!

Dennis.

Report for October 1 Senate Meeting

Greetings! Well the year is underway and I am excited! If you’re anything like me, I am sure you get energized interacting with these great students. I’ve tried to take every early opportunity to meet students. As you’ll see at the bottom of this report, I helped distribute laptops, participated in the “Meet Menomonie” event where freshmen meet the local business community, at the Great American Cookout I helped pass out complimentary Frisbees, and then capped off the first 10 days of the academic year by attending the scholarship ceremony. Wow!

As I have done in the past I want to give you, the reader, some more detailed information about some of the meetings I participated in representing the academic staff on campus. I have already posted my comments to the Stout Foundation Board and the Alumni Association Board meeting held on September 12 and 13.

Next on my list to report is the September 15 Chancellor’s Advisory Council (CAC) meeting. Chancellor Sorensen first went over what they CAC is about and meeting guidelines. We then had a presentation by Meridith Wentz and Tammy Cutsforth on the 2007-2008 Faculty and Academic Staff Salary Study. Next Meredith presented the Summary of Job Engagement and Satisfaction Report. Both of these reports will be shared at the next Senate of Academic Staff meeting. We then talked about the importance of the Fall 2008 Listening Sessions and everyone will be encouraging participation. Finally the Chancellor announced that Dean Murphy will also be serving in a new Role as Coordinator for Federal/State Relations.

Another meeting I participated in was the September 18 UW System Academic Staff Representatives Council (ASRC) meeting in Madison. We always start and finish these meetings with time for the campus reps to meet alone. During this time I was honored to be chosen by my peers to serve as Convener for the ASRC this academic year. Although I have officially served on the group for 3 years now, and occasionally filled in for the past two senate chairs when they could not travel to Madison, there are a number of very bright people on the Council so it felt good when they expressed their confidence in me to serve in this role.

Senior Vice President Rebecca Martin began with a discussion of the schedule for the year for the Academic Staff Reps meetings. Rebecca noted that in her discussions with the Chancellors, they raised concerns about reducing the number of meetings in Madison due to high energy costs. Therefore, Rebecca has looked at the Provosts, Faculty Reps, and Academic Staff Reps meetings to reduce travel. The Provosts began using videoconferences last year and the Chancellors are looking at options to reduce travel also.

After much discussion, it was determined that the following steps would be taken, if possible, regarding the schedule:

• In October, Rebecca Martin and the Academic Staff Reps would examine whether the upcoming agenda would require adding a face-to-face meeting in November or December.
• Move videoconference from April to February (System Admin will check with campuses on waiving site support costs).
• Move meetings to Fridays and same day as Faculty Reps to save on travel (could have joint presentations and still allow separate discussions with System Admin staff).
• Add joint meeting with faculty in December to meet with the President.

Next on the agenda was to share with System the Reps only discussion items. In summarizing the discussion, we informed them that I will serve as the convener for the Academic Staff Reps, with Mike Pagel as the backup. I noted that there continues to be concern with academic staff contracts and compliance with UPG 3.05. Some campuses are discussing eliminating rolling horizons and many instructional academic staff that have been with the university for years, still have no job security. Rebecca Martin reminded the Academic Staff Reps of the letter from President Reilly that stated that these matters should be handled first at the campuses and then brought to System Administration if not resolved.

Rebecca Martin then provided an update on the Growth Agenda Action Steps. She noted that there would soon be an announcement of a grant program for the Growth Agenda. The Academic Staff Reps were particularly interested in the Student Engagement Portfolio and asked for a presentation from Larry Rubin in the future.

Ron Singer then provided an update on the Making Opportunity Affordable (MOA) project. This is a Lumina Foundation initiative to increase college degrees during this time of limited resources for higher education. This project is a collaboration with the Technical College System, the Department of Public Instruction, private colleges, and the Governor’s Office. The focus of the project is on transitions from high school to colleges and transfers between higher education institutions. There will be a policy audit to enhance degree attainment and focus groups will be used to examine these policies.

Al Crist then provided an update on Human Resource issues. Al announced that as part of the new HR system implementation, they were able to keep the 22 days sick leave benefit intact for new employees. Al also announced that they are looking to increase from three to five years for allowing reinstatement of sick leave for employees who leave the UW.

Al announced that they are looking for representatives to the Fringe Benefits Advisory Committee and asked that nominations be submitted to their Chancellor.

Al then discussed the planned presentation on competitive compensation issues and the aging of the faculty at the November Board of Regents meeting. It will be followed in December by the UW System recommendation for unclassified pay plan. The Academic Staff Reps discussed the importance of informing the Board of the role of academic staff on campus and the huge impact they have on graduation and retention rates. Al noted that will also be presenting information on salary market comparisons, fringe benefits comparisons, aging of the faculty and staff, and examples of recruitment and retention problems.

Jess Tormey and Grant Huber next provided an update on Legislative Issues. They noted that now is an excellent time to invite legislators to campus and share with them the issues you face. Legislators are also being briefed on the Growth Agenda.

Next, Freda Harris provided an update on the Biennial Budget Request passed by the Board of Regents in August. The Budget Request included $50.9 million in new initiatives and $124 million in costs to continue. The UW System is also required to submit a Budget Reduction Plan for a 10% cut in administration as it has in past biennial budgets and plans for a $25 million lapse. In August, the Board of Regents also passed updated performance measures for the UW System. The specific goals will be considered by the Board in October. Regarding revenue projections, it was just announced that tax revenue is running higher than expected for FY07-08 and a new agreement with Ho Chunk set the revenue level. Freda also noted that the Recruitment and Retention request includes funding for faculty and research and instructional academic staff.

The meeting ended following further discussion among Academic Staff Representatives.

The final meeting I wish to spend a couple minutes discussing it the September 29 Administrative Leadership Team (ALT) meeting. The campus ALT members were asked to read the book, “The Speed of Trust” by Stephen M. R. Covey prior to the meeting. After brief introductory remarks by Chancellor Sorensen and Provost Furst-Bowe, we broke into 4 groups and discussed the following questions: What are the characteristics of personal trust?; How do you decide if you trust someone?; What are the characteristics of an organization with high trust?; What are the advantages to working in a high trust organization?; and What can we do to build greater trust at UW-Stout? It was a good exercise and important discussions.

Following is the complete list of activities and meetings I attended representing the Senate since September 2:

• 9/2: Laptop distribution
• 9/3: Senate of Academic Staff business meeting
• 9/3: Meet Menomonie sponsored by the Greater Menomonie Area Chamber of Commerce
• 9/4: Office Hours in Senate Office
• 9/5: Chancellor’s Coalition on Alcohol and Other Drugs
• 9/8: Office Hours in Senate Office
• 9/9: Great American Cookout sponsored by University Dining Service
• 9/11: Office Hours in Senate Office
• 9/11: Scholarship Donor Reception
• 9/11: Scholarship Award Ceremony
• 9/12: Stout Foundation Board
• 9/13: Stout Alumni Association Board
• 9/15: Office Hours in Senate Office
• 9/15: Chancellor’s Advisory Council
• 9/16: Visioning Faculty Senate Listening Session
• 9/17: Visioning Open Listening Session #1
• 9/17: Visioning Senate of Academic Staff Listening Session
• 9/18: UW System Academic Staff Reps Council
• 9/22: One on one with Provost Furst-Bowe
• 9/22: Office Hours in Senate Office
• 9/22: One on one with Chancellor Sorensen
• 9/23: Meeting with Interim Dean Peters and Faculty Senate Chair Deckelman
• 9/23: Senate of Academic Staff Exec Meeting
• 9/23: Student Center Renovation Consultants Presentation
• 9/24: Visioning Open Listening Session #2
• 9/25: Visioning Open Listening Session #3
• 9/25: Office Hours in Senate Office
• 9/26: Monthly meeting with Faculty Senate Chair Deckelman and SSA Chair Lubke
• 9/29: Office Hours in Senate Office
• 9/29: Administrative Leadership Team
• ·9/29: Visioning Open Listening Session #4

Dennis Shaw, 2008-2009 Chair
Senate of Academic Staff

Report to the Stout Foundation and Alumni Boards

The Foundation Board meeting is today and Alumni Board meets on Saturday. Following is my prepared remarks:

Greetings from the Senate of Academic Staff. I am Dennis Shaw and this is the third year I have had the honor to chair our senate. We are one of three governance groups on campus (along with the Stout Student Association and the Faculty Senate). There are two categories of Academic Staff on campus, the first is Instructional Academic Staff which would include Lecturers and Researchers, and the other is Professional Academic Staff, which would include everyone from librarians, financial aid counselors, residence hall directors and the like to department supervisors and administrators.

We are fortunate on the Stout campus to have a Chancellor and administration that has embraced Baldrige principles and believes in shared governance. All three of our senates are given opportunities to participate in almost every decision made on campus.

One of the most recent opportunities was this summer when we joined many others from campus, community leaders, legislators, business and education leaders, and from your board at the Chancellor’s 2015 Visioning Session this summer. I’m looking forward to the next step in the process which is to present the themes from the retreat at campus listening sessions. Our Senate’s listening session is next week.

Our senate expects to be busy again this year with tight state budget issues (which usually results in Academic Staff trying to do more with less), staff upset that the state cut our promised 2% raise in half in July, working out how we can provide some more contract security particularly for instructional academic staff, and I’m sure there will be a number of decisions we will be involved with as the campus continues to move forward.

Let me close by saying that again this year I attended the scholarship reception and program which always gets me energized about the new year. I want to thank the Foundation and the Alumni Association for your continued support of the institution and especially for your caring about these fine students. I hope you also have time to stick around for the football game and interact with students at that event also.

Thanks again for inviting me to visit with you again today!

Dennis Shaw, 2008-2009 Chair
Senate of Academic Staff

A new academic year

Greetings. The start of the new academic year is always an exciting time for our campus – and this year is no exception! With the polytechnic marketing efforts begun, the reorganization of the College’s complete, and a very successful Chancellor’s Visioning Session this summer that we will be reacting to, the Senate of Academic Staff will be dealing with some important issues that will affect the university for years to come.

Our senate meetings have returned to Wednesdays at 3:30pm and are of course open to the public so I hope to see many of you there. If you have issues or concerns you would like to bring to the attention of our senate, please contact us at x1352.

Dennis Shaw, 2008-2009 Chair
Senate of Academic Staff