Posted on 07/08/2011 6:52:29 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
MADISON - Two unions representing about 2,700 public workers in Madison and Dane County have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Wisconsin's new law restricting collective bargaining rights. The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, is the second federal challenge to the law that was pushed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker and passed by the GOP-controlled Legislature earlier this year. The other challenge, filed last month by a broad coalition of unions, is pending.
The law prohibits collective bargaining except over base salary increases no greater than inflation. It took effect June 29 after the state Supreme Court rejected a lawsuit challenging how the bill passed the Legislature. Walker said the law was needed to help address the state's $3.6 billion budget shortfall.
The law applies to most public workers, including school teachers, but does exempt most police and firefighters, local transit workers and emergency medical service employees.
The lawsuit filed by two local Madison chapters of the AFL-CIO argues that exempting some public workers from the law is a violation of equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution and creates unnecessary conflict. The lawsuit, which asks the court to block further implementation of the law, also argues it violates First Amendment rights under the Constitution.
State Justice Department spokesman Bill Cosh said he was confident the case could be successfully defended.
"It appears to be nothing more than a repeat of the claims already asserted by other unions," Cosh said in a written statement.
Bruce Ehlke, the attorney representing those who filed the lawsuit, said he was in no hurry to get a ruling in the case because the labor unions have contracts in place that won't immediately be affected by the law. The unions' current deals run until March 2014.
Ehlke had filed a similar lawsuit in state court in March, but withdrew it last month and decided to pursue the issues in federal court instead.
The lawsuit argues that limitations on collective bargaining impair the ability of public sector labor unions to survive and to express the views of those they represent.
The law limits the terms of collective bargaining agreements to one year and prohibits any extensions, requires unions to vote every year to stay in existence, and disallows the automatic withdrawal of union dues from employees' paychecks.
The lawsuit alleges those restrictions also impair the ability of public workers to associate with labor unions and to express concerns of mutual interest with their employers.
There is no constitutionally acceptable governmental interest in imposing the restrictions, the lawsuit said.
The other federal lawsuit makes similar arguments. Groups suing in that case include councils of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the Wisconsin State Employees Union and the Service Employees International Union-Health Care Wisconsin.
Wisconsin ping
They do not deal with loss very well.
Two union gravy train derails,sorry boys the free ride is over.
They do the same thing on close elections where the Democrat loses. Keep demanding re-counts; a few more "votes" are discovered each time. When they finally get enough "discovered votes" to win, the re-counts stop.
WHEN will the GOP in this state, come right out and ask the people of Wisconsin WHY they want to spend more and more tax dollars on frivilous lawsuits and hold up a list of these union bully groups?
Whiny, spoiled, arrogant, me-me-me-me-me union groups are in a panic mode because their sugar daddy of freebie money flowing from our over taxed pockets, deducted from state employee paychecks, sent directly to the unions, then from the unions right back to the DEMOcr*p party coffers, then the Democr*ps spend millions of those dollars backing even more lefty, arrogant, whiny Democr*ps. What’s wrong with that picture? Well - the fine hard working people of Wiscosnin have started to get a good look into the details of said union thugs. They don’t like it. They don’t run their own finances and families that way and don’t want Wisconsin run that way. Sorry unionistas - the party is O V E R. But it’s for the children, something like those Atlanta teachers, huh?
Agreed. This was the tipoff that they were shopping for judges: "Ehlke had filed a similar lawsuit in state court in March, but withdrew it last month and decided to pursue the issues in federal court instead."
“...The law applies to most public workers...but does exempt most police and firefighters, local transit workers and emergency medical service employees.
The lawsuit...argues that exempting some public workers from the law is a violation of equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution...”
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I can see an easy change in the law that would correct this.
Drop union representation, or your services are no longer needed. Oh, BTW, because you are working under contract, that means we can contract work from other parties, you do not have any guarantee you will win those contracts. You will have to bid for for those jobs just like everybody else.
Wisconsin made a huge mistake by not kicking the Unions out of all Government service. Let these bastar!s survive on their own. The Unions are communists controlled and they act in unison with the communists of the world. Look what these communists filth is doing to Boeing in South Carolina.
IMHO, obvious venue shopping should allow the other party to ask for sanctions including dismissal under the doctrine of unclean hands.
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