The UW-Madison bargaining team will meet with the state today to negotiate the Teaching Assistants' Association's demands for a new contract.
The TAA will also meet tonight to announce the results of the strike ballot and to discuss the state's offer, which will determine whether it will go on a two-day walk-out beginning April 27.
As of now, the TAA's contract grants its members zero-premium health care benefits at the expense of lower pay. However, the state has threatened to take away the TAA's health care benefits, too, and charge $9 per month for health care.
According to TAA Treasurer Ben Ellison, the TAA needs two-thirds of its members to vote \yes"" on the strike ballot.
If the pending strike does occur, some TAs may try to find ways to either meet with their students outside of the classroom or get information to them by some other means, according to history TA Helen Hoguet. She said the TAA is asking TAs not to grade papers, hold office hours or cross the picket lines for any reason. Hoguet added it is a TA's discretion to decide to still meet with students to make up for lost time.
Sixteen UW-Madison departments have declared full support for the TAA's bargaining positions. TAA co-President Tina Chang said all union members in these departments that are part of the strike are required to take part in the strike ballot voting.
""The very fact that some of these departments are going on record and putting forth these resolutions means a great deal,"" Chang said. ""It means that they support what we're doing, they understand why we need to do this, and they're not going to go after their students in their department.""
This pending strike may lead to a grade strike in which TAs will withhold grades from students.
According to Chancellor John Wiley, several TAs have expressed concerns regarding UW-Madison's international students, who have to certify each semester that they are full-time students and making satisfactory progress in order to keep their visas. Without grades, they will not be able to do that. He added that violating these visa conditions would be breaking the law, resulting in severe penalties.
""Those may turn out to be trivial issues but ... it gives me comfort that [the TAs] have thought about the consequences,"" Wiley said.
However, UW-Madison mathematics TA Nate Miller said if there are students who need their grades for reasons such as applying for scholarships or graduate school, the TAA will have them available upon request.
""We're here to make a public demonstration,"" Miller said. ""We're not here to take away from educational opportunities.\
