VOTE NOW: Contract Ratification

At the November 18 General Membership Meeting, the membership voted on a number of items, including to oppose and organize against Chancellor Martin’s Badger Partnership plan and to stand behind the Student Labor Action Coalition’s and AFSCME 171’s fight against privatization and the unprecedented use of non-union labor at the Wisconsin Institutes of Discovery.

Membership also voted to endorse the contract settled between our bargaining team and the state. Members voted to send the tentative agreement to a full vote of our membership so that if the Legislature convened a special session, we could fully implement a new collective bargaining agreement. The contract includes some gains in language although on “economic” issues we largely did not make gains.

Linked at the end of this email are three documents. First is a summary of the changes in the new contract in non-legalese language, then the actual language, and finally the ratification ballot itself. The ballot should be printed out on two separate sheets so that the election trustees can separate your signature sheet from the ballot in order to ensure anonymity. You can either send the ballot in through campus mail or turn in ballots to Karen Scott and Alyson Sewell in 866 Van Hise. You need to vote by Sunday, November 28 at 5PM in order to have your vote counted.

If the contract is approved by the membership, then the state legislature will vote on it. We are hoping and working with legislators to make sure that this happens before the new year. If you have any questions about this whole process, please email the office at taa@taa-madison.org, or call at (608) 256-4375.

Summary of Changes

Tenative Agreement Language

Contract Ratification Ballot