A 2011 protest of Act 10 outside of the capitol.
Last Friday a Circuit Judge in Dane County, Wisconsin ruled that certain portions of the Wisconsin law known as “Act 10” was unconstitutional under the state and federal constitution. Act 10 is the controversial law passed by the Wisconsin legislature in the March, 2011, that practically stripped most of Wisconsin’s public sector workers of their rights to engage in collective bargaining.
The law provided that Wisconsin public sector workers unions, except those deemed “public safety unions” could not bargain for wages above the rate of inflation and were prohibited from bargaining on any other issues. The law also prohibited the state or municipalities from agreeing to a dues check-off, prohibited “fair sharing fees” whereby non-members paid for the services the unions provided them, and required public sector unions to be submit to a recertification vote every year.
Act 10 was passed in a hastily convened special legislative session despite the fact that the Democratic legislatures left the state to prevent a quorum. It was the signature measure championed by the newly elected governor, Scott Walker.
Soon after Act 10 was passed, the Democratic legislators brought a legal challenge, claiming it was passed in violation of the state’s Open Meeting Law because the session when it was enacted had not been properly announced in advance. That challenge failed, and the law went into effect in June, 2011. Since then there have been challenges brought by public sector unions in both federal and state courts.
