The state Senate has approved a measure that would allow University of Wisconsin System faculty and academic staff to form unions.
The plan would change state law to give about 17,000 faculty and academic staff — including 26 at the University of Wisconsin-Marshfield/Wood County — the right to decide whether to form collective bargaining units to negotiate their salaries, benefits and other employment conditions. It also would allow the employees to form up to 31 separate bargaining units across the state.