Memorandum from the Provost to Category A Academic Staff

MEMORANDUM

TO Academic Staff Members (Category A)

FROM: Julie Underwood, Interim Provost

RE: Letter from the Wisconsin Professional Employees Council (WPEC) to Selected Academic Staff Members

Many academic staff members received a letter from the President of the Wisconsin Professional Employees Council (WPEC) last week.  WPEC is a union that represents certain professional classified employees at the University and others in a variety of state agencies.  The letter informed the recipient that WPEC considers his/her position to be misclassified as academic staff and represented that the position should be moved to a bargaining unit represented by WPEC. We do not know specifically who received the letter so I am sending this memo to all Category A academic staff to provide some additional information.

The issues raised are complex and arise as a part of legislation regarding collective bargaining.  Below you can find links to two newspaper articles that summarize the issues involved.

WPEC has stated its intention to petition the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) for a “unit clarification.”  This is the process used to ensure that membership in a collective bargaining unit is properly constituted.  The WERC generally has the authority to resolve disputes between employers and unions regarding such membership issues. However, their authority does not appear to include the ability to assign academic staff to classified collective bargaining units.   Yesterday, the Legislative Fiscal Bureau (LFB) issued an analysis of the effects of the Governor’s partial vetoes, including legislation regarding collective bargaining (page 42). This analysis supports the position that WERC does not have the broad authority to reclassify employees.

We will continue to actively review the new enabling legislation for academic staff collective bargaining in light of WPEC’s letter and the petition to WERC. We will keep you informed about this issue as new information becomes available.

The two newspaper articles mentioned above are:

• New right to unionize bothers many in University of Wisconsin System
• Push to assign UW staff to unions could become subject of legal dispute

If you have questions, please e-mail Steve Lund, Academic Personnel Office.

xc: Deans, Directors
 Academic Staff Executive Committee
 HR Representatives