United Faculty And Staff of UW-Eau Claire, AFT Local 6481

Resolutions on Tenure, Merit Pay, and ALEC Approved at Spring GMM

On Thursday, April 7, UFAS-UWEC held its Spring General Membership Meeting. Members present debated and ultimately passed three resolutions regarding tenure, merit pay increases, and the University's patronage of companies who sponsor the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an organization that supports policies that undermine public funding of higher education. The resolutions passed are as follows:

On Tenure:

Whereas all academic success and progress depends upon intellectual freedom of speech,

whereas tenure was developed as a means to ensure that intellectual freedom of speech, by

Tenure Resolution Approved by University Senate

On Tuesday, May 12, 2015, the University Senate approved the following resolution in support of tenure at UW-Eau Claire. The resolution was brought to the University Senate after it was approved unanimously by UFAS-UWEC members at their Spring General Membership Meeting. Thanks to all academic staff and faculty who voted for the resolution, and a special thanks to those who worked so hard to make it happen.

Whereas the historic and continuing purpose of tenure is to enable, and ensure academic freedom,

whereas our UW-Eau Claire mission statement commits us, all of us, to strive to engage with

AAUP/AFT-Wisconsin Joint Statement on Wisconsin Biennial Budget

The AAUP and AFT-Wisconsin stand together in condemning the attacks on higher education that the Wisconsin Legislature included in its biennial budget, which Governor Walker signed into law last Monday. We call on the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and the UW System and campus-level administrations to work with their faculty and academic staff to reconstitute the language previously included in Chapter 36 into system-wide and campus policies.

The legislative changes to tenure, due process, and shared governance and the $250 million cut to the UW System budget are direct attacks on

AFT-Wisconsin statement: Scott Walker Presidential Announcement

Madison, WI: Statement from AFT-Wisconsin President Kim Kohlhaas, a teacher in the Superior School District, on Scott Walker’s announcement of his presidential campaign:

AFT-Wisconsin release: JFC budget a disaster

Governor Scott Walker’s proposed 2015-17 budget for the state of Wisconsin, introduced earlier this year, was jam-packed with shameful attacks on working Wisconsinites. Since then, Republican majorities on the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) have been finding ways to make a bad budget even worse. Now that the JFC has wrapped up budget deliberations, its budget proposal will be taken up by the state Senate and Assembly, then head to Governor Walker’s desk for his signature. Here's what AFT-Wisconsin President Kim Kohlhaas had to say:

Joint Statement on Gov. Scott Walker's Higher Education Attacks

I'm proud to share with you a joint statement from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Sara Goldrick-Rab, professor of educational policy studies and sociology at UW-Madison and a member of AFT local 223, United Faculty and Academic Staff. Randi and Sara, two committed educators and unionists, strongly condemn Scott Walker's attacks on higher education, which will slash essential state funding and threaten the bedrock of academic freedom upon which higher education depends. Please share this statement widely and help us get the word out about the danger facing every university in the UW System, from Superior to Milwaukee.