A Wisconsin law that gutted collective bargaining for teachers and other public employees in the state 13 years ago has been deemed unconstitutional by a state circuit court.
The law, passed in 2011, limited collective bargaining for most public employees in the state to pay raises capped at the rate of inflation, and required 51 percent of public workers represented by collective bargaining to vote to recertify their local unions every year. It also barred unions from collecting dues automatically through workers’ payroll deductions.
Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost ruled that the statutes, known as Act 10 and Act 55 for the legislation that created them, violated the equal protection clause of the state constitution because they carve out exemptions for some public safety employees, such as municipal police and firefighters. (Those exceptions were widely seen as a favor for constituencies that were more supportive of former Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican.)
Act 10, a centerpiece of Walker’s first term, made Wisconsin a poster child for widespread Republican-led efforts over the last decade to restrict collective bargaining for teachers and other public-sector employees.
If the ruling is upheld, it could provide more wind in the sails of broader efforts to roll back laws restricting collective bargaining. The Wisconsin ruling comes less than a month after a federal judge ruled Florida’s SB 256, which also bans union payroll deductions and requires local union...
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