TAA Under Attack; Stand Up, Fight Back!
YOUR TUITION REMISSION, HEALTH CARE, WAGES, AND UNION ARE ALL UNDER ATTACK. IT IS URGENT AND IMPERATIVE THAT YOU GET ACTIVE AND INVOLVED IN THE TAA NOW.
Governor Scott Walker has launched a direct attack on graduate employees at the UW-Madison. As of March 13, our contract will be terminated. Our tuition remission, health care, and workplace rights will no longer be protected. If the Governor’s proposed legislation passes, we will have no ability to bargain over these things anymore. Wages will be capped at the rate of inflation, leaving us without the ability to regain ground when salaries fall behind our peers. Union resources will be drastically reduced. This bill means the effective death of collective bargaining for grad employees.
All public sector workers are under attack. Faculty and staff are under attack. The UW as a whole is under attack. With these extreme acts, Scott Walker is seeking to undermine the labor peace of 50 years.
The legislature’s vote will be held Wednesday. What we do in the next 5 days will determine whether we keep our union, and our professional lives as educators, researchers, and public servants.
YOU NEED TO GET ACTIVE NOW if you want to have a union worthy of the name — if you want your tuition remission, health care, and wages to stay in place. Here’s what we need you to do:
=== Contact Your State Legislator and Sign Up for Actions This Week ===
Everyone should do this. But this is especially important if you’re originally from a Wisconsin town besides Madison! The whole thing will take you only a few minutes. Click on the following link:
http://leadernet.aft.org/formmaker/take/survey.cfm?id=183c9a7c-5056-b94b-11dd-b7f47603bbaa
This page will tell you who your legislator is, how to contact his or her office, and offer you some helpful talking points. Be sure to sign up for attending as many crucial union events as you can this week: remember, the time is now if we’re going to protect the benefits that generations of TAA activists have fought for.
=== Saturday and Sunday: Come to the TAA office. ===
We’ll be here near-continuously over the weekend. Bring your cell phone and a laptop, and your appetite for action. The TAA office is located at 254 W. Gilman St., just off State St. We’re above the American Apparel store, and across from the Chocolate Shoppe. Here:
http://tinyurl.com/4hf4628
=== Monday: Valentine’s Day Rally For UW-Madison ===
11:30am: Meet at Memorial Union. We’ll march up to the Capitol for a rally at . . .
12pm: Rally at the Capitol. Hundreds of us from the UW and the Madison community will deliver thousands of valentines from our “I ‘Heart’ UW” campaign, from all over the state. Tell Governor Walker that attacking the people who make the UW work is not the way to show love for the UW!
After the rally: come back to the TAA office for further actions and preparation. Again, bring your laptop and phone if you’ve got ’em.
5:30pm: EMERGENCY MEMBERSHIP MEETING. Located in 2650 Humanities Building:
http://www.map.wisc.edu/?initObj=bdg_Hmnty&z=74.58&x=-0.269379&y=-0.174633
Find out the latest about the status of Scott Walker’s extreme legislation, and decide what we’re doing about it for the next week and beyond.
=== Tuesday: Day of Action With All Public Employees ===
9:30am: meet at Madison Masonic Center.
We’ll be briefed on which legislators we need to lobby, and how to be effective. Located at 301 Wisconsin Ave.:
http://tinyurl.com/48osuh9
11am: Rally at State Capitol. Buses will be coming in from all over the state, bringing public workers who don’t want to see the end of 50 years of collective bargaining!
1pm: Lobby key state legislators. These legislators have the power to STOP this bill, and we must convince them to do the right thing.
=== Wednesday: 2nd Day of Action With All Public Employees ===
This day is largely the same as Tuesday, but with greater and greater numbers.
9:30am: meet at Madison Masonic Center. We’ll be briefed on which legislators we need to lobby, and how to be effective. Located at 301 Wisconsin Ave.:
http://tinyurl.com/48osuh9
11am: Rally at State Capitol. Buses will be coming in from all over the state, bringing public workers who don’t want to see the end of 50 years of collective bargaining!
1pm: Lobby key state legislators.
These legislators have the power to STOP this bill, and we must convince them to do the right thing.
If you have any questions, feel free to call the TAA office at 608-256-4375, or e-mail us at taa@taa-madison.org. Or just show up. The office is humming with grads just like you, who want to protect what we have and live to fight another day.
We can fight this, and we can win. Solidarity!