Morris Andrews (right) was WEAC's Executive Director from 1972 to 1992. Andrews, along with longtime Government Relations Director Mike Brennan (left), turned the union into a political powerhouse.

Teacher salary averages increased more than 10 percent each school year for three years in a row from 1980–81 to 1982–83. Note, however, that double-digit inflation in the late 1970s meant that, despite these gains and the substantially improved national ranking, Wisconsin teachers were barely keeping pace with increases in the cost of living while teachers in many other states were falling far behind those increases.

In 1982, the WEAC-backed candidate for governor won election with WEAC’s institutional support and the grassroots support of WEAC members throughout the state. With a governor and Legislature WEAC had done a great deal to help elect, WEAC was able to go on the offensive with its legislative agenda throughout the early and mid-80s and win several victories for its members. From 1983–1987, $900 million in state revenues went into the school aids fund, increasing school funding through the state rather than through property taxes.

Other legislative victories during this time did a great deal to strengthen the teaching profession. The minimum educational standards were increased from 13 to 20 in 1985 with WEAC’s strong lobbying. Another measure substantially upgraded the teacher education programs in the University of Wisconsin system, and others tightened standards for entering the profession and increased licensure and certification requirements.

Other bills that passed with a great deal of help from WEAC and its members during this time included a strengthening of the mediation arbitration laws and legislation that increased pension benefits for public employees by 23 percent. WEAC’s membership also grew substantially during the 1980s, to approximately 55,000 members by the end of the decade. A large part of this growth came from the addition of educational support personnel members. By the end of the 1980s, non-teacher educators such as bus drivers, custodians and food service employees numbered more than 6,000 in ESP units. And the new members not only made the union stronger, they contributed fresh perspectives to organizational and educational programs and other efforts.

WEAC's membership grew substantially during the 1980s, to approximately 55,000 members by the end of the decade.

There has been steady growth in the number of Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) teachers and ESP members joining the union throughout WEAC’s modern history. WEA began enrolling technical college members in the 1960s, and by 2001 there were almost 3,000 WEAC members from 11 of the 16 WTCS colleges.

WEAC also gained membership by gaining the confidence of local teacher associations throughout the state in the face of challenges from the American Federation of Teachers and the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers. WEAC won the lion’s share of the head-to-head elections during these years, before reaching a “no-raid” agreement with AFT that calls for a moratorium on competing for members who are already organized. Since the agreement, the like-minded organizations have consistently worked together on behalf of public schools, public school employees and children. But there was a time

when each organization wished for the other’s demise and fought fierce organizing battles over membership.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, WEAC maintained the largest staff of legal counsel of any state affiliate in the nation. Even much larger states with much larger memberships employed fewer staff attorneys than WEAC, which sometimes employed as many as 14 staff counsel and associate counsel. WEAC leaders thought it more cost effective to employ more attorneys rather than hiring outside legal help at much higher hourly rates.

As a result of this commitment to legal representation, WEAC members are protected from unlawful dismissals and unjustified contract non-renewals. In addition to handling hundreds of individual member cases per year, WEAC attorneys also represent WEAC members in labor and educational quality lawsuits in state courts, assist in collective bargaining, and interpret the finer points of new legislation and legislative amendments.

WEAC’s lawyers won several important cases for school employees and schoolchildren in the early 1980s. In Fortney v. West Salem School District in 1982, WEAC legal counsel convinced the courts that fired teachers have the right to a review from outside arbitrators who are not deferential to school boards.

WEAC’s 1983 victory in Leissring v. DILHR expanded educators’ rights to receive unemployment compensation. And the 1984 West Bend Education Association v. West Bend School District case established that teachers cannot be laid off without statutory notice and the right to be heard.

The attorneys at WEAC have successfully defended dozens of teachers and school employees who have been unjustly fired through the years.

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