About Us

AFT-W’s structure is based on constituency groups called “Councils”.  This is recognition of the fact that while we’re all in this together, we have some differences.  For example, state employees and graduate assistants bargain with the Office of State Employee Relations, while K-12 locals bargain with local school boards and Technical Colleges bargain with the technical college’s board. College faculty and academic staff haven’t had the chance to bargain with anyone. 

Each council is guaranteed at least one seat on the Executive Council, known as a Council Vice President.  Councils can also

When the Wisconsin Legislature gave state employees the right to collectively bargain in 1959, they created the groups called bargaining units that would independently decide if they wanted to collectively bargain and if so, who they wanted to represent them.  

When forming the bargaining units mentioned above, the Legislature said “in order to foster meaningful collective bargaining, units must be structured in such a way as to avoid excessive fragmentation whenever possible”.  They created a list of groups who could collectively bargain.  The group that WPEC represents is the Fiscal and Staff

WPEC got its start over 20 years ago when a small group of professional state employees met in an upstairs office on Atwood Avenue in Madison to talk about forming a union. Some were already committed to the idea but others were skeptical. It kept coming down to the question “what would we get with a union that we don't already get under the state’s civil service system?”

When this group first met, issues included lower raises when compared to unionized blue collar, clerical, technical and other professional employees; compensation lower than counterparts in the private sector and other

Our Vision:  We are a courageous union whose members collectively forge a future in which working people build just and democratic workplaces and communities.  

AFT-Wisconsin is your union. We are a union of professionals working in the University of Wisconsin System, the Wisconsin Technical College System, public schools, and state agencies. Through collective action in our workplace and communities, we help ensure affordable and high-quality public education and services. We create democratic workplaces where workers who know the jobs best have a say in how the institution is run. We fight

Ed Berry, Treasurer                                                             berryej@outlook.com

Jamie McCarville, Membership Secretary                       mccarjm@me.com

Scot McCullough, at-large                                                 mccullough.scot@gmall.com

Jeff Richter, at-large                                                           jjrichter225@gmail.com

Barb Smith, at-large                                                             conlonsmithbe@gmail.com

John Widdecombe, at-large                                               papajohny_bassman@yahoo.com

Rev. 9/16/2021