Workers question life after Lyall
10:37 PM 2/08/04

Thousands of state employees working in the University of Wisconsin System are wondering what, if any, effect Katharine Lyall's decision Wednesday to step down will have on them. <

After 12 years as president of the System, Lyall will leave in August. She has left the System in better shape than she found it, but for some state employees, more work needs to be done. <

"First of all, we wish Katharine the very best," said Marty Beil, executive director of Council 24, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, also known as the Wisconsin State Employees Union. <

Among Council 24's 27,000 members in seven bargaining units, about 4,000 work in the System, which has a total employment of about 28,000. <

"Clearly, Katharine has made an overall contribution to the university System and Wisconsin," Beil said. "The issues we have with the System are not of her making. She inherited them." <

Beil said Lyall's leaving probably won't result in any "significant" changes. <

"Things won't go from day to night," Beil said. "The concerns we have certainly won't go away when she leaves." <

Among Council 24's seven bargaining units, six negotiate for state contracts with the Office of Employment Relations. The seventh represents employees at UW Hospital. None of the units, including the one representing System employees, has reached an agreement with the state. <

"In many respects, the UW System has to come into the 21st century, maybe even the 20th," Beil said. "We really need to take a serious look at the way the UW System is administered." <

Beil said his comments were not intended to reflect poorly on Lyall. <

"I'm not talking about administration in the sense of directives from the president's office," he said. "This is a problem with the overall bureaucracy - the vice presidents and the 'this and thats.'" <

Lyall's successor will be faced with the growing problem of what Beil refers to as a caste system. <

"Again, this is bureaucratic baggage Lyall inherited," Beil said. "It's very clear that there are two classes of workers in the UW System. There is the faculty and staff group with its shared governance, and then the rest - the support staff, including the custodians and maintenance workers. <

"Our members are referred to as 'DER employees,' as if they aren't even a part of the UW System," Beil said, referring to the former Department of Employment Relations. "I get sick of hearing how faculty is shared governance and we are 'merely' contract workers." <

With a new president, an opportunity may develop to address the union concerns, Beil said. <

"We wish Katharine success in the future, and we look forward to seeing if change will result in addressing some of these problems that have existed for decades," Beil said. "There needs to be a very serious look at them." <

The new president will inherit one of Lyall's greatest frustrations: the decline in public support for one of the greatest public institutions in the country. <

"It's not just budget to budget," Beil said. "It's an entire economy, and there needs to be a reckoning. The current trend is not good." <

Lyall has received universal praise for her administration of a $3.5 billion, 26-campus system despite recent cuts in state funding culminating in a $250 million budget cut this year. The cuts come despite an enrollment increase of 7,000 and a faculty decrease of 700 since Lyall became president in 1991. <

Beil's state bargaining units were presented with an initial offer of a 0 percent pay increase the first year and 1 percent plus 25 cents per hour in the second year of the 2003-05 biennium. The state is also demanding an employee contribution to cover the cost of health insurance, something many employees were able to avoid in the past by enrolling in certain HMO plans. <

"We need to be creative, but that's very difficult when budgets are being slashed," Beil said. "We come to the table with a proposal that gets a favorable reception, but then they turn around and tell us there's no money to support it. <

"That's not going to change with Katharine leaving, but, hopefully, a new president can shake things up, and we can start working on some of these core problems." <

Stan Milam, of Capitol News Service, has covered state government since 1983. He can be reached at 608- 251-8585; send e-mail to cns@chorus.net.