Statement of Darrell Bazzell on UW-Madison employee pay

Statement of Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration Darrell Bazzell:

Classified employees, graduate assistants and student employees are essential members of the campus community. We greatly appreciate what they do on a daily basis to help the university achieve its educational and research missions.    

UW-Madison is committed to paying its classified employees a wage at least as high as the living wage established by the City of Madison, which currently is $12.45 an hour. However, the university has not been able to pay all employees the living wage because it has not had control over pay programs and policies.

As part of the new personnel system resulting from the HR Design initiative, which will be implemented July 1, 2015, UW–Madison intends to bring all classified employees up to at least the City of Madison living wage. This reflects the university’s commitment to providing quality opportunities for all of our employees.     

We also have met with student representatives to discuss wages for part-time student employees. UW–Madison is committed to making sure all student employees receive fair wages.    

In addition, the university is committed to paying competitive wages to graduate assistants. This is reflected in the fact that teaching assistants and project/program assistants received a 4.67 percent increase for 2013-14 and a 2 percent increase for 2014-15, which exceeded the 1 percent per year pay plan for other university employees. We continue to review graduate assistant compensation to make sure UW–Madison can compete for and reward top graduate students.