"Santa," aka University of Wisconsin Teaching Assistants' Association co-president Mike Quieto, paid an unexpected visit to Wisconsin's capitol in December, leading about 50 university workers and students in pro-education, pro-labor carols directed at the Legislature's Finance Committee members.

"Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, Oh what pain it is to see tuition hiked each day—HEY!" they sang. Their verse began, "We want low tuition—more diversity, health care for TAs, and no adversity."

Also on the activists' wish list: fair contracts for all state employees, including faculty and TAs; restoration of faculty and classroom cuts from 2002; and an increase in scholarships for working-class students and students of color. The group distributed a "naughty and nice" list of legislators, tallying those who have opposed or supported union causes. "Nice" lawmakers were rewarded with candy canes, "naughty" ones with lumps of coal. Gov. Jim Doyle was treated to a whole bag of coal, said Quieto, for laying off state employees, contracting out work, attacking healthcare and cutting university budgets.

TA contracts in Wisconsin remain frozen after a two-day walkout last spring. TAs are fighting to retain their no-cost health benefit, while the state insists they pay half of what their full-time counterparts pay: an $11 monthly premium for a single worker, $27.50 for a family, according to Quieto. Until a new agreement is reached, the workers will continue to receive benefits, but salaries, too, remain frozen. "By not getting a raise, we're falling further behind," says Quieto. "We want something to keep up with the consumer price index. We were behind before, we're behind now, we're getting 'behinder' faster."

Quieto hopes negotiations will resume early this year, before the contract expires in June. The university, he said, is pushing to bargain both the 2003-05 contract and the 2005-07 contract at once. "Bargaining's going to be tough," he says. "If we can't get something acceptable, we're not going to sign it." [Barbara McKenna]

January 5, 2005