Members Committed to Fair Collective Bargaining, Johnson Says

WEAC members are committed to helping pass legislation that restores a fair system of collective bargaining for teachers and provides the level of state funding needed to maintain Wisconsin's great schools, WEAC president Stan Johnson said in an interview published Tuesday (February 5, 2002) by wispolitics.com.

Johnson said WEAC members are "sick and tired of having to bear the burden of property tax relief all on their shoulders" as a result of the Qualified Economic Offer law and school district revenue caps.

"They've done a tremendous job," he said of Wisconsin's public school teachers and support staff. "The last 11 years, we've been number one and number two in the ACT test -- the fourth grade readings. . . From all the measures, we've done an outstanding job. And the reward has been that ... salaries are capped. ...

"What we're looking at, so that clearly people understand, is going back to free collective bargaining -- being able to sit down, as equals, and talk about our salary, compensation. Talk about quality issues at the table, and those sort of things. We can't do those sort of things (under the current law)."

Johnson gave credit to Governor McCallum for his "courageous" action in protecting K-12 education funding from cuts in his budget adjustment proposal.

Johnson said the governor's plan treats education as "an important investment in this state."

"And we're going to take him for his word, applaud him, and help him try to get that through this budget cycle."

Asked about rumors that WEAC had made a deal with the governor, Johnson said flat-out, "There's no deal." He pointed out that WEAC has a very strict democratic, member-driven procedure for determining which candidates it recommends for election.

Go to the wispolitics.com interview with Stan Johnson
WEAC Candidate Recommendation Process
Resource page on the Qualified Economic Offer law

Posted February 6, 2002