Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu are vowing to appeal a Dane County judge’s ruling that restored collective bargaining powers for public employees who lost them under Act 10 more than 13 years ago.
Judge Jacob Frost this summer found parts of the law unconstitutional because it treated some public safety employees, such as municipal police officers, differently from others in law enforcement, such as wardens working for the Department of Natural Resources.
Following that ruling, GOP lawmakers had asked Frost to only strike down the definition of public safety employees but otherwise leave the law largely intact. But he rejected that in Monday’s decision.
The 2011 law barred state general employees from negotiating for anything other than base wage increases that were capped by changes in the consumer price index.
Frost struck down that measure along with two other key components of the law:
- Requiring 51% of all members in a bargaining unit to certify the union while allowing a simple majority of those who voted to certify for those who fell under the public safety employee definition.
- Allowing union dues to be deducted from the paychecks of public safety employees, but barring the practice for others.
In all, Frost struck down 87 provisions from Act 10 and another three from a 2015 law that modified the original statute.
Public employee unions and workers who were part of the suit challenging the law hailed the ruling. They also noted it is likely the case will be tied up in the courts “for some time” with expected appeals.