The Republican-controlled Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER) passed three tentative collective bargaining agreements that would raise trades’ workers wages by 4.12% this year to adjust for inflation and changes in the labor market at a public hearing and executive session on Wednesday.
All agreements included back pay dating to June 30, 2024.
The three agreements in question were between the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Wisconsin State Building Trades Negotiating Committee; the Board of Regents of the UW System and the Wisconsin State Building Trades Negotiating Committee; and the State of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin State Building Trades Negotiating Committee. All three agreements passed.
“Given the tight labor market and inflationary pressures that employers and workers have been facing, this wage adjustment is needed to ensure the state can recruit and retain skilled workers,” Donna Bente, deputy administrator of the Wisconsin Division of Personnel Management, said Wednesday. “Without the talent of the critical workers represented in these agreements, delivery of critical services is at risk.”
Besides Bente, no one else registered to speak at the hearing. Representatives from UW System administration, UW-Madison, Wisconsin Pipe Trade Association and Associated Builders and Contractors registered in favor of their respective agreements.
The agreement between UW-Madison and the trades union estimated an annualized impact of $1,079,713, including fringe costs, across all funding sources. Most of the money to pay for the raises will be taken from general purpose revenue. Other universities in the UW System will pay a total of $447,857 more with the increase.
