Pay raises up for vote next week

A key state agency soon will unveil its recommendation for how much more money many UW System employees should receive over the next two years.

The state Department of Employment Relations will recommend a pay plan for unclassified state employees, including UW System faculty and academic staff, when the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Employment Relations meets Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 9 a.m.

Earlier this year, the Board of Regents asked the state to recommend a 4.2 percent pay increase for faculty and academic staff in each year of the two-year budget cycle. The board asked that the first year’s raise phase in with an immediate 2.1 percent pay increase, retroactive to July 1, and a second 2.1 percent increase Jan. 1. The entire second 4.2 percent increase would go into effect July 1, 2002.

But some university officials say DER’s recommendation to JCOER may not match the board’s suggested pay plan for either faculty or academic staff, or possibly both.

UW System President Katharine Lyall, Chancellor John Wiley and the other UW System chancellors say a smaller pay increase will not save any state money because the 4.2 percent pay increases are already funded in the existing UW System budget.

A letter to Gov. Scott McCallum, co-signed by Lyall, Wiley and the other chancellors, says faculty and staff salaries at UW institutions are falling behind what people are making at other universities.

“We fear retention problems on our campuses, and to see that workforce bleed off into universities in other states that can offer more competitive pay, when we have the means to prevent that, would be tragic,” the letter says.

JCOER, which oversees pay and fringe benefits for all state employees, including those at UW–Madison, often approves DER’s pay plan without changing it. But the committee does have the authority to make changes and submit them to the governor for approval. If the governor vetoes the changes, JCOER can override the veto with a two-thirds vote of its members.

The state has already finalized raises for the state’s non-represented classified staff, including those at UW–Madison. Those employees will see a 1 percent pay raise this year and a 2 percent raise starting July 2002.

UW–Madison classified staff human resources director Jim Stratton says those employees should get their first paychecks under the new pay plan Thursday, Oct. 4, including a lump sum pay check to cover the difference in pay back to the effective date of July 1, 2001.

The state is currently negotiating with labor unions on a pay plan for the university’s represented classified staff.