Latest Ruling on Act 10 Brings More Questions Than Answers – WORT-FM 89.9

The ruling was a win for the lawsuit’s plaintiffs, a coalition of public unions from across Wisconsin including SEIU Wisconsin, AFSCME Locals 47 and 1215, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 695.

The Wisconsin Education Association Council, or WEAC, was also a plaintiff.

“This ruling is going to bring us one step closer to our goal: a Wisconsin where all employees have a say in our workplaces,” says Peggy Wirtz-Olsen, WEAC’s president and a high school English and art teacher.

Jason Stein is the vice president and research director at the Wisconsin Policy Forum, a nonpartisan research organization. The former reporter covered Act 10 from the Capitol for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and later co-wrote a book on it.

He tells WORT that the so-called budget repair bill had “sweeping impacts for labor that went well beyond the state budget to really removing most of the authority that public employee unions in the state of Wisconsin had at that time.”

Act 10 applied to most public sector workers. But it did come with exceptions, born largely from the massive groundswell of protests that brought international headlines to Madison.

“Governor Walker said I think pretty openly that one of the reasons that they excluded public safety workers from the provisions of Act 10 was they felt that they needed the public safety workers – the police, the firefighters – to be doing their jobs,” says Stein. “That it wasn’t an acceptable risk that those unions would go on strike and that the public safety functions would be impaired.”

In the years since Act 10 was passed, labor unions and advocacy groups have challenged it in court numerous times. But this latest lawsuit argues that, by excluding public safety workers from its collective bargaining provisions, Act 10 violates the Equal Protection clause in the state’s constitution.

Professor Jon Shelton chairs the department of Democracy and Justice studies at UW Green Bay. He’s also vice president of higher education for American Federation of Teachers Wisconsin, or AFT.  He says Judge Frost used a ‘rational basis’ test to determine whether the exclusions are constitutional.

“What the judge determined is that this division between public safety workers and general workers fails this rational basis test because there are some workers that you would think would be included under public safety – like the Capitol Police, who were not included and did not have full bargaining rights,” says Shelton. “And then other folks like workers at the Department of Motor Vehicles who were classified as public safety workers.”

So what comes next?

Lawyers for union groups and the state legislature have just under a week to submit proposed amendments to Act 10, and labor groups say they’ll request an expansion of collective bargaining for all public unions. Shelton says the state legislature is likely to suggest a path forward with as few changes to Act 10 as possible.

Stein says the potential consequences could be more far-reaching, pointing to other provisions that require state employees to contribute more to their pensions or their health care plans.

“And so, one question I have in my mind is: would the judge’s ruling apply to those requirements? If it did, that would be a significant financial blow to local governments, school districts, and – to a lesser extent – the state of Wisconsin,” says Stein.

The case is almost certain to be appealed by the state legislature, heading to the appellate court and, potentially, the state Supreme Court, which flipped last summer to a liberal majority with the election of Janet Protasiewicz.

During that campaign, Protasiewicz publicly stated that she found Act 10 unconstitutional, and, she’s said since that she could recuse herself from the case. With her recusal and a vote otherwise along ideological lines, the case could be tied up in a 3-3 decision. That would let the lower court ruling stand.

Shelton says that, regardless of the outcome, the renewed push to roll back Act 10 is worth paying attention to.

“This is potentially a major weakening of – really – the unconstitutional provisions of Act 10 that I think, you know, as public employees many of us have felt for quite some time in this state,” says Shelton. “And so, you know, this is something that I think people should really be paying attention to because it could end up being a very transformative moment.”

Source: Latest Ruling on Act 10 Brings More Questions Than Answers – WORT-FM 89.9