General Membership Makes Recommendation on Chancellor's $3 Million Compensation Proposal

On October 27, 2016, at the Fall membership meeting, UFAS-UWEC members voted unanimously to approve a recommendation on how Chancellor Schmidt should allocate $3 million in one-time money among staff and faculty at UW-Eau Claire.

Four UFAS-UWEC members designed a short survey of all employees on campus regarding how they thought the money should be allocated; the survey ultimately collected 251 responses. Peter Hart-Brinson presented the results of the survey, which showed that UWEC employees, in general, valued both equity and merit equally. It further showed that they thought providing all employees with a living wage was even more important than other merit and equity pay issues.

At the end of the presentation, a resolution approved by the Executive Council was submitted for discussion. Several amendments were made from the floor, and the final resolution was approved unanimously.

The resolution was shared with members of the Strategic Merit and Equity Committees, who are working to formulate recommendations on when and how the additional $3 million in compensation should be distributed. The results of the survey were also shared with Chancellor Schmidt directly.

Although the UFAS-UWEC resolution is not binding on either the members of the Strategic Merit and Equity Committees or the administration, members in attendance voiced the hope that the survey and resolution would inform their decision-making processes. The survey results, and the resolution based off of them, are the best estimate available of the collective sentiments of employees on campus regarding pay and compensation issues.

The full text of the approved resolution is below.

1. On the basis of these survey results, the United Faculty and Academic Staff of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire recommends to the Strategic Merit and Equity Committees:
   1. That 50% of the $3 million be allocated on the basis of merit, as measured by annual performance reviews from both current (2016) and previous calendar years
   2. That 50% of the $3 million be allocated on the basis of equity, prioritizing:
      1. Providing wage increases for lowest-paid employees and bring them in line with the Eau Claire County living wage ordinance
      2. Addressing inequities in cases where employees at a lower rank earn more than their colleagues at higher ranks, and reducing compression at the ranks of associate and full professor
      3. Reducing inequities between University and Academic Staff who have the same rank and experience while performing the same job
   3. That these allocations should be made in January 2017 ($750K for merit, $750K for equity) and carried over into the 2017-18 fiscal year.
2. We further recommend that considerations of merit and equity include those Academic and University Staff who, as part of the 2015-16 institutional restructuring, took on additional work with no equivalent change in pay or title.