Thank you!

Thanks to all the students who voted for the Living Wage referendum and against the Wisconsin Union Facility Improvement Plan. The Living Wage passed, 5,312 to 3,204, and the WUFIP was voted down 4,654 to 3,959.

Now we'll have to make sure that Chancellor Wiley will honor the students' decision. While the WUFIP vote is binding, the administration has given various signals as to how they will react to the Living Wage vote. Statements in the student papers after the vote say that the Chancellor "intends to work with ASM". Given that the margin of victory for the Living Wage referendum was over 2,000 votes, it's clear that a majority of students want their seg fees to support living wages for campus workers. If shared governance means anything on this campus, Chancellor Wiley will respect this vote.

Those who voted against WUFIP and for the Living Wage referendum have cast a vote in favor of dignity for all working people. AFSCME Local 171 thanks them for this effort, and looks forward to working with student labor supporters untill poverty wage jobs at UW Madison are a memory.