Press

For Immediate Release
February 4, 2019

Unions File Lawsuit to Protect Wisconsin Governor from Lame-Duck Power Grab
 

MADISON, Wis.—Today, a lawsuit was filed by AFT-Wisconsin, the Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization, the Service Employees International Union Local 1, and the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, challenging the constitutionality of laws enacted by the lame-duck Wisconsin state Legislature following the November 2018 election in an attempt to limit Gov. Tony Evers’ power before he assumed office. The suit alleges that these laws violate

Madison, WI – Members of several AFT higher education locals and students filled the Capitol on Wednesday to call on lawmakers to recommit themselves to the Wisconsin Idea by working with faculty, staff, and students to strengthen the quality of our UW-System.  Students from UW-Stevens Point have largely led the organizing efforts after their campus announced in March that it would be cutting 13 majors in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.

“Some of these students were in sixth grade when Scott Walker and the Republican legislature started decimating the UW System,” said Andy Felt, UW

Superior, WI – The UW-Superior faculty have overwhelmingly voted “no confidence” in the UWS administration in response to the recent announcement to suspend and put on warning approximately one-third of all majors and minors at UWS.  The vote was open to all faculty and took place from Wednesday-Friday this week.  The vote, which read, “As a response to the October 31, 2017 administrative decisions to suspend majors/minors, I vote no confidence in the UW-Superior administration,” passed by a 59% margin.

“The faculty overwhelmingly rebuked the administration’s top-down decision on program

Superior, WI – In a unanimous vote, a committee of the Douglas County Board of Supervisors voted to forward a resolution calling on UW Regents and Governor Walker to rescind program suspensions and warnings at UW-Superior.  The resolution will be voted on by the entire Douglas County Board on the 21^st.  This resolution comes as students and community members mount increasing pressure on the administration to reverse their October 31^st announcement to suspend 25 programs and put 15 others on warning. 

Members of AFT Local 6514, the faculty and staff union at UW-Superior, attended the meeting and

The following statement was released today by the AAUP and AFT-Wisconsin:

A series of recent actions taken by Governor Scott Walker, the Wisconsin state legislature, and the University of Wisconsin system board of regents represents a concerted attack on the university as a public good and on the university’s role in fostering democratic participation. The stewards of the university system appear determined to destroy it.

In 2011, Governor Walker proposed, and the legislature passed, Act 10, curtailing the system faculty’s rights to negotiate collectively. In 2015, the legislature severely

MATC AFT LOCAL 212 CALLS-OUT HYPOCRISY IN WALKER-TRUMP TECH COLLEGE VISIT

The union representing the state’s largest group of skilled trades educators slammed President Trump’s and Governor Walker’s tour of Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) as nothing more than a politically-motivated public relations stunt.

“Sheer hypocrisy,” declared Dr. Lisa Conley, President of AFT Local 212, “Trump and Walker are using WCTC and its students for a photo-op while pushing policies that undermine apprenticeship and skilled trades training,” Conley explained.

“We need to invest in our skilled workforce

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