Wisconsin PT Faculty Feeling Heat From Governor's Attempt To Curb Bargaining Rights

Part-time instructors at Madison Area Technical College are trying to quickly ratify a wage contract that has been in limbo for 10 months, offering to drop a lawsuit against the college in exchange for emergency adoption.

The new urgency is caused by Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to curb the collective bargaining rights of state employees, which include technical college faculty, said Mike Kent, president of the MATC Part-time Teachers Union.

Kent said the union is trying to get "the best outcome we can get not knowing what the future’s going to hold in respect to the bill."

Under the deal, if the MATC Board agrees to hold an emergency meeting to ratify the contract, the part-time teachers union would drop an unfair labor practice claim, Kent said.

Jon Anderson, attorney for MATC, said he can’t comment on the offer because he hasn’t heard the full details from the union’s attorney.

"My sense is that times have changed since we reached that tentative agreement over 300 days ago," Anderson said.

The union still needs to ratify the contract as well.

The part-time teachers and the college’s board reached a tentative agreement in late April, offering union members raises that ranged from 3 to 12 percent, depending on how long the instructor had worked at the college. But the union decided to delay ratification of the contract while it fought the college in court on an issue of how the college assigns courses. Union leaders said the system unfairly favors full-time faculty.

The claim is now before the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission.

MATC employs about 450 full-time faculty and some 1,200 part-time teachers.