It seems like a lifetime ago when public employees from across the state of Wisconsin flooded the state capital in protest of then-governor Scott Walker’s Act 10. For those who don’t recall, Act 10 was legislation that effectively ended collective bargaining for most public employees across the state. In addition, the Act severely limited collective bargaining for public safety employees, allowing them only to bargain salary increases up to the annual rate of inflation.
Well, political judicial appointments work both ways. Last week we discussed how a conservative justice in Texas had overturned the Biden administration’s changes to overtime rules. This week, Governor Tony Evers’s appointed judge determined that, after 11 years, Act 10 is unconstitutional.
The matter came to the court on a motion on the pleadings from the employee groups who brought the suit. The court found that the Legislature (the defendant in this case) failed to establish any genuine issue of material fact to warrant further proceedings on the claim. As such, the court moved to identifying which portions of the Act were unconstitutional, and stated the unconstitutional statutes will have no further effect going forward.
Finding the unconstitutional sections of the Act severable from non-collective bargaining related provisions of the law, the judge struck most of the sections related to collective bargaining. The sections creating definitions of public safety employees and designating circumstances for when and in what units public safety employees, providing for differential treatment of those employees were found unconstitutional. This meant that even those units who were still allowed to bargain over limited terms and conditions of employment were affected by the change.
With that, for the time being, collective bargaining is back in in the state of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin legislature has already appealed the court’s decision to the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, and the case will likely be decided by the Wisconsin Supreme Court. We will keep our eyes on our neighbor to the east, and let you know if and when any major changes take place. If you, or your organization, need assistance with any of you labor relations needs, contact Wiley Reber Law, for legal advice that works.