CapitolBeat OK

-- All Categories --
  • Home
    • Budget & Taxes
    • Business
    • Education
    • Government Reform
    • Legal Policy
    • Health Care
    • More State News
      • Elections
      • Legislative Profiles
      • Legislative News
      • Energy
      • Ballot Questions
  • Featured Reports
  • About
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
Federal court upholds Wisconsin's Act 10 in its entirety
  • Remove Report
  • Post Report
  • View Reports
  • My Information
Share this Article: Twitter Facebook Republish Print
YouTube Video
Ryan Ekvall, Wisconsin Reporter
Published: 21-Jan-2013

MADISON, Wisconsin – A federal appeals court on January 18 upheld Act 10, Wisconsin’s controversial reform law that guts collective bargaining for most public employees in the state.

The decision strikes a blow to public-sector unions that gained a temporary victory in September, when a Dane County Circuit Court Judge ruled parts of the law unconstitutional.

The Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down key provisions of a separate federal court’s ruling, writing, “The district court invalidated Act 10′s recertification and payroll deduction provisions, but upheld the statute’s limitation on collective bargaining. We now uphold Act 10 in its entirety.”

Act 10, led by Republican Gov. Scott Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature in 2011, limits wage negotiations to the rate of inflation, ending negotiations on benefits. It also prohibits public-sector employers from automatically deducting wages for union dues and forces public-sector unions to annually hold recertification votes.

“Today’s court ruling is a victory for Wisconsin taxpayers,” Walker said in a statement. “The provisions contained in Act 10, which have been upheld in federal court, were vital in balancing Wisconsin’s $3.6 billion budget deficit without increasing taxes, without massive public employee layoffs, and without cuts to programs like Medicaid.

“With this ruling behind us, we can now focus on the next state budget, which will invest in priorities to move our state forward.”

Act 10 has saved Wisconsin taxpayers more than $2 billion since it went into effect in July 2011.

“Act 10 exhibits a rational belief that public sector unions are too costly for the state. The recertification process furthers this interest by imposing a recertification burden that impacts unions’ influence over employees who are less passionate about union representation,” the Court writes.

Democrats, not surprisingly, stood with the court’s dissenting opinion that Act 10 may have been politically motivated and inherently unfair in its requirement to end automatic union dues for most public union employees, but not for all.

“Given the recent focus on bipartisanship, now would be a good opportunity to move away from positions the court acknowledges are likely favoritism and punishment,” said Assembly minority leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, D-Kenosha, in a statement. “We must find real solutions the Wisconsin way of sitting down together and rolling up our sleeves to tackle problems with all stakeholders to repair some of the damage that has been done by this law.

 We are not a state that should have laws in place to settle partisan vendettas.”

Mary Bell, head of the Wisconsin Education Association Council, said the court’s decision marks a setback for WEAC.

“(B)ut the fact of the matter is that our members will not give up on their commitment to restoring their rights to negotiate for fair wages and safe working conditions,” she said, adding that WEAC is in the process of reviewing the appeals court decision to “determine the impact of this ruling and the organization’s next steps.”

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Juan Colas’ ruling last year is not affected by the decision and will be heard by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.

“While the decision today upholds Act 10 in its entirety, an injunction is still in place as a result of the Judge Colas decision regarding Act 10; however the decision handed down today is a compelling argument for that injunction either to be lifted or stayed,” wrote Dana Brueck, spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice.

NOTE: This story is adapted from the Watchdog.org website, part of the Franklin Center's national network of state Capitol news bureaus. CapitolBeatOK in Oklahoma City is also part of that network. Contact Ryan Ekvall at rekvall@wisconsinreporter.com

 


Thanks for your interest in CapitolBeatOK. You're welcome to republish our content at no cost, but we ask you to agree to the following ground rules:

  1. Don't edit the story other than to change references to timing (say,"today" to "yesterday") or to suit your in-house style rules ("Beaumont" to "Beaumont, Tex.").
  2. Don't publish our photos or graphics without express permission (we don't always have the copyrights to pass along). Email our editor Patrick McGuigan for help. If it is our photo, we will always grant permission to use it with credit to us.
  3. Other than including it in your publication or on your site, don't resell the story to someone else.
  4. Don't sell ads against our story. Feel free, however, to publish it on a page surrounded by ads you've already sold.
  5. If you publish our story online, please include all of our internal links.
  6. Give us credit. Please publish the author's name as follows: by Patrick B. McGuigan, CapitolBeatOK.com. And please link back to our home page, www.capitolbeatok.com, in that credit line. If it's a signed piece, credit Patrick B. McGuigan or other named author; if it's a "CapitolBeakOk Staff Report" please retain that reference at the beginning of the story, with the link to our website as indicated.
HTMLPlain Text
Help Support CapitolBeat

sign up for email updates

Watch Our Videos On Youtube browse Our photos On Flickr listen to our Podcasts
Steal Our Stuff
Contributor Login
CapitolBeatOK
430 State Capitol Bldg.
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd.
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
Phone: (405) 601-3433
Fax: (405) 601-3455

© 2013 CapitolBeatOK. All rights reserved. Designed by Level9.
Back40 Catalyst