The Teaching Assistants’ Association (TAA) Local 3220 is a graduate assistants’ union based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. It is the first graduate student union established in the country and is affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). 1
The TAA promotes left-of-center policies on issues ranging from labor and education policy in Wisconsin to support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel. 2 3 The group was known for planning and coordinating the occupation of the Wisconsin state Capitol Building in 2011 to disrupt the passage of the state’s Act 10 labor law reforms. 4 5 6 7
History and Leadership
The Teaching Assistants’ Association was informally founded in 1966 by graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who met during protests against the Vietnam War. 8 It was formally organized as a labor union in 1969 and reached its first contract with the university in 1970 after a four-week strike. 9 In 1974, the TAA affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), becoming its Local 3220. 10
Former TAA president David Newby was the president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO from 1993 until 2010 and a member of the AFL-CIO’s national Executive Council, where he advocated for left-of-center policies including single-payer government-run health care and opposition to America’s foreign policy. 11 12
One former co-president of TAA, William Spriggs, became the chief economist for the AFL-CIO. In addition, he would serve as the chair of the Healthcare Trust for UAW Retirees of the Ford Motor Company, the assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of Labor for the Obama administration, a senior fellow and economist at the Economic Policy Institute, the AFL-CIO’s representative on the board of directors of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the president of the National Economic Association. 13 14 15
Between 2006 and 2020, the TAA donated a reported $5,650 to seven different candidates for the Wisconsin legislature, including six Democrats and one Republican state Senate candidate. 16
Opposition to Act 10
In 2011, then-Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) signed a package of government-worker labor policies and budget adjustments known as Act 10 meant to change the collective bargaining laws for state unions. 17 The weeks leading up to the bill’s passage and signing were marked by protests and demonstrations, including a multi-day occupation of the Wisconsin State Capitol Building that was instigated and partially coordinated by the Teaching Assistants’ Association. 18
Public-sector unions including the TAA were opposed to Act 10’s requirements that they annually recertify their members’ desire to be represented by the union and that they get a majority of the union’s members, rather than just a majority of the members voting in the election, to approve that representation. 19 They were also opposed to Act 10’s elimination of dues “check-off” and restriction of the scope of public-sector union bargaining to employee compensation within an inflation-adjusted range. 20
In the failed 2012 attempt to recall Gov. Walker and replace him with a Democratic governor, the TAA’s membership voted to only endorse a candidate who would promise to fully repeal Act 10. 21
Role in Wisconsin Capitol Occupation
The Teaching Assistants Association is credited for planning and carrying the occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol Building in 2011, but Act 10 would ultimately be signed and passed into law. 22 23 24 It was the first organization to call for other groups to come to the state capitol and attempt to interfere with the state legislature’s ability to vote on the bill. 25 26
With the support of Democratic legislators, the TAA operated a “situation room” inside the Capitol where its leaders coordinated many of the groups and activities involved in the state capitol’s occupation. 27
Legal Opposition
Act 10 survived both federal and state legal challenges, with the state’s Supreme Court upholding the law in 2014. 28
During the 2023 Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, Democratic-supported Janet Protasiewicz defeated Republican-backed incumbent Dan Kelly, causing the court majority to switch from Republican-supported justices to Democrat-supported justices. 29
In 2023, the TAA was a co-plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Act 10’s constitutionality. 30 31 In 2024, a circuit court judge in Dane County ruled in favor of the TAA and its co-plaintiffs, claiming that Act 10 failed to provide a rational basis for treating police and firefighter unions differently than teachers and other government employees. Several components of Act 10 were then removed from law. 32
Opposition to Israel
In 2014, then-TAA co-president Michael Billeaux was a signer of a Labor for Palestine-led resolution in support of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign. 33 Two years later, the union’s membership voted to endorse the BDS campaign. 34
In November 2023, the TAA’s membership approved “A Call for Palestinian Liberation” claiming that the “Zionist Israeli state is a reactionary tool of Western imperialism,” while accusing Israel of apartheid and genocide. 35 The TAA previously called for the American Federation of Teachers to rescind its endorsement of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign over his support for Israel during the Israel-Hamas war. 36
References
- “History.” TAA Madison. Accessed July 15, 2024. https://taa-madison.org/history/.
- “UW-Madison Graduate Student Union Endorses BDS.” Mondoweiss, May 19, 2016. https://mondoweiss.net/2016/05/graduate-student-endorses/.
- Tarleton, John. “Inside the Wisconsin Uprising: Teaching Assistants Help Spark a New Movement in Labor.” PSC CUNY, November 9, 2022. https://psc-cuny.org/clarion/2011/april/inside-wisconsin-uprising-teaching-assistants-help-spark-new-movement-labor/.
- Brown, George Martin Fell. “The Battle for Wisconsin – Introduction.” Socialist Alternative, 2019. https://www.socialistalternative.org/the-battle-of-wisconsin/introduction/.
- Billeaux, Michael, Katie Zaman, and Ty Carroll. “Why We’re ‘Grading In.’” SocialistWorker.org, January 1, 1627. https://socialistworker.org/2014/04/28/why-were-grading-in.
- Schirmer, Eleni. “What Wisconsin Will Recall.” Labor Notes, June 26, 2015. https://labornotes.org/2012/03/what-wisconsin-will-recall.
- Tarleton, John. “Inside the Wisconsin Uprising: Teaching Assistants Help Spark a New Movement in Labor.” PSC CUNY, November 9, 2022. https://psc-cuny.org/clarion/2011/april/inside-wisconsin-uprising-teaching-assistants-help-spark-new-movement-labor/.
- “History.” TAA Madison. Accessed July 15, 2024. https://taa-madison.org/history/.
- “History.” TAA Madison. Accessed July 15, 2024. https://taa-madison.org/history/.
- “History.” TAA Madison. Accessed July 15, 2024. https://taa-madison.org/history/.
- Nichols, John. “John Nichols: In Solidarity with Labor’s David Newby.” The Cap Times, October 17, 2010. https://captimes.com/news/opinion/column/john_nichols/john-nichols-in-solidarity-with-labor-s-david-newby/article_0384bfd2-64cb-553d-953b-a3ce703fc3a2.html.
- Nichols, John. “Arrested for Singing.” The Nation, June 29, 2015. https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/arrested-singing/.
- Spriggs, William. “Dr. William Spriggs’s Story: Working Hard for America’s Workforce.” National Archives and Records Administration, February 8, 2011. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2011/02/08/dr-william-spriggss-story-working-hard-americas-workforce.
- Nichols, John. “Opinion: The UW Scholar Who Remade Our Thinking about Economics.” The Cap Times, June 21, 2023. https://captimes.com/opinion/john-nichols/opinion-the-uw-scholar-who-remade-our-thinking-about-economics/article_ad279af3-c21a-5168-8405-01b7be690556.html.
- “William Spriggs, 1955-2023.” NBER. Accessed July 15, 2024. https://www.nber.org/news/william-spriggs-1955-2023.
- “TEACHING ASSISTANTS ASSOCIATION LOCAL 3220” FollowTheMoney.org. Accessed July 15, 2024. https://www.followthemoney.org/entity-details?eid=3351764&default=contributor.
- Johnson, Shawn. “Unions File New Lawsuit Challenging Act 10 Collective Bargaining Law.” Wisconsin Public Radio, November 30, 2023. https://www.wpr.org/economy/act-10-collective-bargaining-ban-lawsuit-supreme-court.
- Brown, George Martin Fell. “The Battle for Wisconsin – Introduction.” Socialist Alternative, 2019. https://www.socialistalternative.org/the-battle-of-wisconsin/introduction/.
- Billeaux, Michael, Katie Zaman, and Ty Carroll. “Why We’re ‘Grading In.’” SocialistWorker.org, January 1, 1627. https://socialistworker.org/2014/04/28/why-were-grading-in.
- Billeaux, Michael, Katie Zaman, and Ty Carroll. “Why We’re ‘Grading In.’” SocialistWorker.org, January 1, 1627. https://socialistworker.org/2014/04/28/why-were-grading-in.
- Schirmer, Eleni. “What Wisconsin Will Recall.” Labor Notes, June 26, 2015. https://labornotes.org/2012/03/what-wisconsin-will-recall.
- Brown, George Martin Fell. “The Battle for Wisconsin – Workers Fight Back.” Socialist Alternative, 2019. https://www.socialistalternative.org/the-battle-of-wisconsin/workers-fight-back/.
- Schirmer, Eleni. “What Wisconsin Will Recall.” Labor Notes, June 26, 2015. https://labornotes.org/2012/03/what-wisconsin-will-recall.
- Tarleton, John. “Inside the Wisconsin Uprising: Teaching Assistants Help Spark a New Movement in Labor.” PSC CUNY, November 9, 2022. https://psc-cuny.org/clarion/2011/april/inside-wisconsin-uprising-teaching-assistants-help-spark-new-movement-labor/.
- Brown, George Martin Fell. “The Battle for Wisconsin – Workers Fight Back.” Socialist Alternative, 2019. https://www.socialistalternative.org/the-battle-of-wisconsin/workers-fight-back/.
- Schirmer, Eleni. “What Wisconsin Will Recall.” Labor Notes, June 26, 2015. https://labornotes.org/2012/03/what-wisconsin-will-recall.
- Brown, George Martin Fell. “The Battle for Wisconsin – Introduction.” Socialist Alternative, 2019. https://www.socialistalternative.org/the-battle-of-wisconsin/introduction/
- Johnson, Shawn. “Unions File New Lawsuit Challenging Act 10 Collective Bargaining Law.” Wisconsin Public Radio, November 30, 2023. https://www.wpr.org/economy/act-10-collective-bargaining-ban-lawsuit-supreme-court.
- Gleason, Patrick. “Wisconsin Supreme Court Election Has Large National Implications.” Forbes, April 10, 2023. https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickgleason/2023/04/06/wisconsin-supreme-court-election-has-large-national-implications/.
- Johnson, Shawn. “Unions File New Lawsuit Challenging Act 10 Collective Bargaining Law.” Wisconsin Public Radio, November 30, 2023. https://www.wpr.org/economy/act-10-collective-bargaining-ban-lawsuit-supreme-court.
- Cestkowski, JT. “Now What? Wisconsin’s Public Unions Prepare for World with Fewer Act 10 Restrictions.” WKOW, July 8, 2024. https://www.wkow.com/news/economy/now-what-wisconsin-s-public-unions-prepare-for-world-with-fewer-act-10-restrictions/article_5e9f4b94-3d76-11ef-8099-8f56e335e267.html.
- Mentzer, Rob. “Dane County Judge Strikes Down Parts of Wisconsin’s Act 10 Collective Bargaining Law.” WPR, July 4, 2024. https://www.wpr.org/politics/dane-county-judge-strikes-down-parts-of-wisconsins-act-10-collective-bargaining-law.
- “Labor Must Stand for Gaza.” SocialistWorker.org, July 30, 2014. https://socialistworker.org/2014/07/30/labor-must-stand-with-gaza.
- “UW-Madison Graduate Student Union Endorses BDS.” Mondoweiss, May 19, 2016. https://mondoweiss.net/2016/05/graduate-student-endorses/.
- “A Call for Palestinian Liberation (Teaching Assistants’ Association Taa; Aft Local 3220).” Labor for Palestine, June 27, 2024. https://laborforpalestine.net/2023/11/15/a-call-for-palestinian-liberation-teaching-assistants-association-taa-aft-local-3220/.
- “A Call for Palestinian Liberation (Teaching Assistants’ Association Taa; Aft Local 3220).” Labor for Palestine, June 27, 2024. https://laborforpalestine.net/2023/11/15/a-call-for-palestinian-liberation-teaching-assistants-association-taa-aft-local-3220/.