Academic Staff
By Mat Gunshor
Whether you are academic staff, classified staff, or faculty – if you are reading this, you probably have concerns about what is happening around campus these days. We are living through tumultuous times at our University and changes are coming that we are not all able to process so rapidly. I cannot possibly document all of the changes that are coming to campus in this space, so instead I will point out some resources.
As you probably already know, there are two major pieces of legislation that are going to have a big impact on us at SSEC and campus in general. The first is the so-called Budget Repair Bill. The most direct effect this is going to have on us is a reduction in take-home pay as you are made to pay more of your pension contribution and health care costs. The second is the Governor’s biennial budget which contains both a massive cut in state funding to the UW-Madison and a provision that would split off UW- Madison from the UW-System and grant it “Public Authority” status. I can answer some questions about any of this (as can other Academic Staff Assembly reps in the building: Wayne Feltz, Dave Tobin, and Mark Werner). Or you can check out the following resources.
This web page is about UW-Madison and the state’s budget. There are links to a plethora of information on the New Badger Partnership and separating UW-Madison from the System, as well as upcoming forums in which these topics will be discussed. The academic staff plan on holding some forums on all of these topics as well.
There is a FAQ on employee benefits and retirement.
There is a calculator online that will help you determine the amount of a cut you are facing. There’s a little bit of good news in there for part-timers: “If you are covered by the Wisconsin Retirement System and your appointment percentage / FTE is 50% - 74.99%, your health insurance premium will not change at this time. This also applies to LTEs who have two or more concurrent LTE positions with a combined FTE (or equivalent hours worked) of 50% - 74.99%.”
Some examples for full time employees with Tier 1 family health insurance follow (Tier 1 is what most employees have – Dean, Unity, GHC – it’s the cheapest of the options). An employee earning $120,000/year would see an approximate 6.8% decrease in pay ($679/month); an employee earning $60,000/year is facing an approximate 8% decrease in pay ($399/month); an employee earning $30,000/year is facing an approximate 10.4% decrease in pay ($259/month). Since health insurance payments are done pre-tax, the percentages and dollar amounts here do not directly translate to take-home, or post-tax, pay (though I believe it is pretty close). The first and most obvious thing I notice is that this is going to have a disproportionate effect on those of us at the lower end of the pay scale.
It is not fun, but I encourage you to figure out what kind of a cut you are facing and start planning for it. When you make your plans, keep in mind that we are still being furloughed until June 30th. Whatever furlough days you have left to take, plus Monday May 16, are still in effect. At the time I am writing this, the Budget Repair Bill is tied up in court. The original intent was for it to take effect in April and we would, in theory, see the change in our May 1 paycheck. It is not clear yet how the delay in court is going to affect that.
An effort has been started by the Academic Staff Assembly to collect stories of hardship. They want to document what the government’s actions are doing to employees. While some of us can weather the cuts to our salaries, for others times were already lean and a cut of that amount is going to be very painful. If you are feeling demoralized, you are not alone (in this building or across campus). I’ve had conversations with some of you and I know some of us are worried about losing our homes and some of us are pondering whether it is still viable for to work here when paying for childcare. For others, the parts of the bill that affect Medicaid may be worrisome if we have loved ones in a position to be affected. You may be able to weather the cuts yourself but fear losing key members of our team. Some of us have accelerated retirement plans and are retiring now. Some of us may be contemplating employment elsewhere. Some of us have second jobs or are considering second jobs now.
The Academic Staff Assembly wants to document these hardships and how the government’s decisions are affecting our morale, our lives, and the strength of our university. If you choose to share these stories with the Assembly, you should avoid using your name and other identifiable details because they will likely want to share these with political leaders at some point and I wouldn’t want information about you to go public that you would like to keep private. You can send stories such as these to me and I will pass them on, with no identifiable information (including removal of your e-mail address), or you can send them directly to Mary Ray (mbray@wisc.edu). Mary is the Vice Chair of the Academic Staff Executive Committee (ASEC).
Please remember that your Academic Staff Assembly representatives (Wayne Feltz, Dave Tobin, Mark Werner or myself) are always happy to hear from you if you have questions or comments about any of this, or any other issues facing the academic staff.
If you are feeling particularly down or demoralized, please talk with someone. There are resources on campus for staff that are feeling overwhelmed and need help coping, such as the Office of Employee Assistance http://eao.wisc.edu/ and Dane County has a support group for homeowner’s in distress.
I would like to end on a positive note, so I will add this. The Public Authority status we are likely to be granted through the state budget will give the University greater flexibility in personnel decisions such as hiring and promoting. Many of us maintain hope that this new system will help us more fairly compensate our staff. The Chancellor has stated that she is hoping to roll out a new pay plan that gives everyone a pay increase within 2-3 years. Merit pay raises may be possible under the new system. The new system should also include changes to titles, giving us more opportunities throughout someone’s career to give them a meaningful promotion.
There are big changes coming; I believe weathering this storm means good things for the University down the road.
