If there was one message that came out of the June 25 healthcare reform rally on Capitol Hill, it was that healthcare reform cannot wait. The demand from the crowd of nearly 10,000 was for affordable, high-quality healthcare with the choice of a public or private option—now!

Randi Weingarten, who was elected AFT president one year ago, announced on June 24 that she will devote herself full time to that role and is stepping down from her position as president of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, effective July 31.

The Union's "long haul" campaign for collective bargaining rights cleared an important hurdle on Tuesday (5/12) as the Legislature's powerful Joint Finance Committee voted by a 12 to 4 margin to extend the basic right-to-decide (about collective bargaining) to faculty and academic staff employed by the UW System.  While the proposal for bargaining rights will need to be approved by the full Assembly and full Senate as part of the state budget, the Joint Finance Committee's approval marks an important step towards winning the campaign for equal rights that TAUWP members have been waging for 30+ years.

During the two-week period between March 23rd and April 3rd, faculty and academic staff members of TAUWP testified at each of the seven public hearings convened by the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee.  As an illustration of the TAUWP's statewide breadth, Union members consistently made the point that the time has (finally) arrived for the University's core workforce to have the same basic workplace rights (to bargain collectively) as all other types of workers in Wisconsin's public and private sectors.

TAUWP Vice President Nancy Turner has chaired a statewide committee of academic staff and faculty members to focus on solutions to the University's "low road" employment practices.  In particular, TAUWP's Committee regarding Non-Tenure-Track Faculty has successfully focused attention on the need for immediate and concrete reforms.  In this essay, Turner applies the Union's position to a debate that System Administration is initiating about "the graying faculty."