Members of the Teaching Assistants' Association do not want to go on strike, but feel they have to consider it. Why? Because the bargaining process has broken down. The state and the university have left union members with no choice but to consider strike activity in the face of efforts to cut our already low pay and dramatically increase the cost of our health insurance.
The TAA's tentative plan-and it is tentative, because we're still hoping for a fair contract offer-includes two steps. The first would be a walk-out of TAs and PAs. The second would be a grade strike.
For TAs, our biggest concern with a grade strike is how it might affect our students. We do not go into this happily or lightly. This letter is intended to clarify why we feel we must consider this step, and how we anticipate it might affect students.
Dollars and cents
On average, your TA is taking home $1,000 per month for the work they do: All the teaching, grading, office hours, test prep sessions and late-night e-mails. The state and UW are offering us aises"" that are actually a 3.1 percent pay cut, because they don't keep up with expected cost-of-living increases (e.g. inflation, rent increases).
On top of this proposed pay cut, the state and UW are insisting on taking away our zero-premium health insurance plan (the one that 85 percent of us use), forcing TAs and PAs to pay $132 per year for single and $330 per year for family health insurance coverage. That's a big percentage of the take-home pay we now have and would be an even bigger percentage were the proposed pay cuts applied. But it won't stop there. Those health insurance rates would undoubtedly increase faster than our wages would in the future.
The state has also determined that health insurance premiums be applied retroactively to January 2004. Beyond that, they plan to charge everyone for these ""back premiums"" even if they have already graduated!
The connection
between TA/PA pay
and your education
While the state's ""offer"" would be a financial disaster for TAs and PAs, just as importantly, it poses a serious threat to the quality of UW-Madison's undergraduate programs. The UW is already well behind its peer universities in terms of pay rates for graduate employees, and it is the pay and benefits package that helps the university attract the great TAs who do much of the undergraduate teaching on this campus.
Allowing the state to cut TA wages even further will put the UW at a major disadvantage in recruiting. UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley has said this in public. But UW has not been willing to take a hard, public stand to protect the TA/PA pay package and thereby its ability to recruit the best teachers and program assistants for its undergrads.
Why a grade strike?
TAs and PAs have tried to bargain, made offer after offer, marched, rallied, written letters and pleaded for help from legislators. It looks like the only way to get our message across is to stop doing our work-to remind the state and UW that our work is crucial to education and research at this university.
The potential impact
on undergrads
The UW is very unlikely to prevent graduating seniors from walking on Graduation Day. In many cases, the university doesn't even have final grades processed before graduation. There may be a few students who need grades very quickly for jobs, professional certifications or graduate school admission. The union does not want to see these people suffer any harm should the state and university force us into a grade strike. We are working right now on a plan to minimize any problems that a small number of students might experience.
While withholding grades is a drastic step-one we hope we won't be forced to take-the TAA feels it must take a stand for quality undergraduate education, for access to affordable health care and for fair and reasonable wages.
If you would like to express your support for quality education and for decent pay and health care for TAs and PAs, please write to Gov. Jim Doyle, to your state legislator, and to Karen Timberlake at the Office of State Employment Relations.
Tina Chang and Boian Popunkiov are Co-Presidents of the Teaching Assistants' Association, AFT Local 3220.
