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October 2005 Newsletter Legislature Approves Faculty Pay Plan of 2/2/1% Plus Competitive Compensation, But Rejects Domestic Partner Health Care Benefits; Professor Robbins Testifies for Competitive Compensation On July 19, the Joint Committee on Employment Relations (JCOER), made up of eight legislative leaders, approved a pay plan for UW faculty and academic staff of 2% on July 1, 2005, 2% on July 1, 2006, and 1% on April 1, 2007. However, the required faculty contribution to health insurance will be increased in year two (starting July 1, 2006; Table 1). Karen Timberlake, State Director of Employment Relations, proposed the package to the committee. Table I
Professor Louise Robbins, Director of the School of Library and Information Studies, testified for PROFS at the hearing on the pay plan. She urged the committee to approve the 2%/2%/1% pay plan recommended by the Doyle Administration and she commended the governor for recognizing the importance of starting to reinvest in the human capital of the university. After pay plans of 0% and 1.35% over the past two years, this is an important step in the right direction, she said. Professor Robbins added, "at the same time, we urge you to recognize this as a first step. Combined with the competitive compensation contained in the governor's budget ($5 million), this pay plan may do nothing more than allow us to tread water. And that means keeping us at a position well behind our peers. UW-Madison ranked faculty salaries have fallen to 7.3 percent behind the median of salary of faculty at our peer institutions (view graph 1973-2005 » ). And we are hearing that our peer institutions are considering pay raises of between 2.5% and 4% for the coming years, and expect similar increases in the following year . . . If our peers receive, on average, pay plans of 3% per year, to get to the median in two years, we would need a pay plan of 6.7% per year. (Table II).” Table II "Other universities and states are taking note of the fact that UW-Madison salaries are slipping further behind our peers. They are pursuing our faculty at an increasing rate. The numbers tell the story. A couple years ago, we had 52 faculty members receive outside offers, and we were able to retain 75% of them. Last year, we had nearly twice as many - 98 - receive outside offers, and we were only able to retain 52% of them. Make no mistake about it. We are losing some very good people. Competitiveness in attracting and retaining outstanding faculty should be viewed not as part of the state budget problem, but as a solution to the future economic success of the state." UW-MADISON PEER GROUP
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