August 8, 2013
On August 6, 2013, UW-Madison announced a pay raise for TAs and most PAs. However, the official story left out the year-long “Pay Us Back” campaign that the TAA ran (and UFAS supported) which culminated in these raises. As TAA member Eleni Schirmer put it: "What [Vice Chancellor Darrell] Bazzell means is, grad assistants at UW can come to the table because they have a union. And because they have a union, fairness gets raised as an issue. UW, let us know if you need help with the next press release."
This is good news not only for TAA members, but for faculty and academic staff too. Adequate pay for graduate workers is crucial for maintaining the high quality of the UW’s academic programs and ensuring that departments remain competitive in attracting and retaining the most talented graduate students. Moreover, this victory for our sister union the TAA shows how all of Wisconsin's public employees can still win gains with direct action and informal bargaining, even after losing legal collective bargaining rights to Scott Walker's Act 10. Great work, TAA!