Tough Time for a University of Wisconsin Graduate Student

If you've watched the news anytime in the last week you've probably heard a little bit about the protests in Wisconsin about the proposed budget bill.  Currently, the number of protestors at the capitol near 60,000 as estimated by the Madison Police Department.  During the week the number was closer to 25,000.

The proposed budget bill would change the following (copied from the message I received from the Governor last Friday):

• Pension Contributions – Currently, state, school district and municipal employees who are members of the Wisconsin Retirement System contribute very little toward their pensions.  The bill requires that WRS employees, including myself and my cabinet officers, as well as employees of the City and County of Milwaukee, contribute 50 percent of their monthly pension contributions.  This amount is estimated to be 5.8 percent of salary for 2011, which is about the national average for private sector employees.
• Health Insurance Contributions – Currently, state employees pay approximately 6 percent of annual health insurance premiums. This bill requires that state employees, again including myself and my cabinet officers, pay at least 12 percent of monthly premiums, which is still less than half of what the private sector pays.  In addition, the bill directs the Group Insurance Board to implement changes to health insurance plan designs to further reduce premiums by 5 percent and will implement health risk assessments for all state employees beginning on January 1, 2012.  Local employers participating in the Public Employers Group Health insurance program operated by the state will be prohibited from paying more than 88 percent of the lowest cost plan.
• Collective Bargaining – Given the above changes, the bill also makes various changes to limit collective bargaining to the base pay rate. Total increases cannot exceed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) unless approved by a referendum.  Contracts will be limited to one year and wages will be frozen until the new contract is settled.  Collective bargaining units will have to take annual votes to maintain certification as a union.  Employers will be prohibited from collecting union dues and members of collective bargaining units will not be required to pay dues.  These changes take effect upon the expiration of existing contracts.  Local police and fire employees and State Patrol Troopers and Inspectors are exempted from these changes. 

I don't have any problem with paying more for my health insurance - it's way under what private employees pay and I think way under the national average as well.  I would have a problem if I did not work both as a graduate student and in industry because my industry job pays far better than my research assistant ship.  One could argue that at least I have health insurance - I know a lot of graduate students don't.  I didn't when I was going through my masters degree.  And as a graduate student I don't receive a pension nor am I part of a union.

I do worry about the state's ability to attract well-qualified students into its graduate programs if benefits are being cut.  We shall see.