Four Republican lawmakers are hoping to keep hundreds of academic staff on six UW System campuses from being absorbed into unions.

Rep. Steve Nass (R-town of La Grange), Rep. Robin Vos (R-Rochester), Sen. Glenn Grothman (R-West Bend) and Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) announced Thursday they plan to introduce legislation that would stop the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission from deciding whether UW System staff members can be put into a collective bargaining unit against their will.

"This would take (WERC) out of the picture and allow the UW to decide what the job description is and what unit a person works in," says Grothman, who hopes the bill will be introduced in the coming weeks.

Attempts to reach union leaders for comment were not immediately successful, but this push will no doubt infuriate union heads who have long argued that the UW System plays fast and loose with its job classification system.