UW System graduate students who are research assistants would have the right to form unions under versions of the budget passed by the state Senate and Assembly.

UW Faculty and staff would also have collective bargaining rights under those bills.

But unlike faculty and staff, unionizing rights for graduate student research assistants were not in earlier versions of the budget.

The Graduate Student Caucus of the Associated Students of Madison, UW-Madison’s student government, urged legislators and Gov. Doyle to retain the provision that would allow them to form unions throughout the rest of the budget process.

Read the On Campus blog: www.madison.com/wsj/blogs/oncampus