Wisconsin Profs Take a Hit

Last week, professors and other public employees in Ohio lost many of their collective-bargaining rights when legislators there passed the state's Senate Bill 5. This week the Wisconsin Senate voted to "approve legislation that would end the right of University of Wisconsin system faculty members to unionize," reports Inside Higher Ed. The Republican majority in Wisconsin "separated the collective bargaining provisions from budget-related measures" from a bill that the state's Democrats had been, for several weeks, preventing a vote on. According to Inside Higher Ed, the bill "severely limits collective bargaining rights of most ... public employees in the state." American Federation of Teachers Wisconsin chapter President Bryan Kennedy tells Inside Higher Ed that the organization plans "to organize to protect the rights of public employees and all workers in Wisconsin, including UW faculty and staff who continue to demonstrate their support for collective bargaining."