Dane County judge hears arguments in lawsuit challenging Act 10 » Urban Milwaukee

A Dane County judge heard arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit challenging a sweeping 2011 Wisconsin law that significantly limited the power of unions in the public sector.

Unions representing teachers and other government workers filed the lawsuit last fall, months after the Wisconsin Supreme Court gained a liberal majority.

Wisconsin’s Republican-controlled Legislature, however, says the lawsuit should be dismissed, noting that previous court rulings have upheld the law known as Act 10.

During this week’s hearing, a District Court judge Jakub Mróz announced that it would issue a decision “in the near future” in response to the MPs’ request for resignation.

For most public sector unions, Act 10 stripped them of the ability to negotiate anything other than base pay increases that are no higher than the rate of inflation. It also banned automatic collection of dues and required annual recertification votes for unions subject to the law. It also forced affected workers to pay higher health and pension benefits.

However, the restrictions under Bill 10 did not apply to all public sector workers. The law allowed unions representing certain police, fire and other public safety workers to retain collective bargaining rights.

The lawsuit alleged that these distinctions violate the equal protection clause of the Wisconsin Constitution.

“I represent the plaintiffs in this case, who are labor unions and workers in the state of Wisconsin who are adversely affected by the discriminatory classification contained in Act 10 between public safety workers, on the one hand, and public safety workers, on the other hand” – lawyer Jakub Karabell said Tuesday. “Act 10 created two categories of public sector workers, so-called general workers, who are effectively deprived of all of their bargaining rights, and so-called public safety workers, who effectively retained all of their bargaining rights.”

Specifically, Karabell questioned why Act 10 gives motor vehicle inspectors “privileged designation” as public safety employees, while the law simultaneously classifies state conservation officers, the Capitol Police and the University of Wisconsin Police as “general” employees who saw their employment rights were limited.

“The distinction that Act 10 created between these groups of workers has no rational basis,” Karabell told the judge.

Misha Tseytlinlawyer representing state lawmakers said legal precedent clearly shows that Wisconsin can distinguish between public safety workers and other workers.

While such a strike would be illegal, Tseytlin said the state has good reason to fear that public safety workers will walk off the job in protest.

“If they illegally go on strike or get sick or something like that, will that cause a problem for the state enough to defeat the specific purpose of the legislation, which is to save money?” – Tseytlin said.

And when it comes to the “fine details” of deciding who counts as a public safety employee and who doesn’t, Tseytlin argued that’s an issue for lawmakers to decide, not the courts.

“(When) people pick nits, it starts to look more like legislating,” he said.

The Wisconsin Legislature has intervened in a lawsuit filed against the Wisconsin Labor Relations Commission and the state Department of Administration. Wisconsin Department of Justice, overseen by a Democratic attorney general Josh Kaulalso requests that the case be dismissed.

Act 10 sparked massive protests involving tens of thousands of people. Some stayed overnight at the state Captiol, occupying the building for weeks.

Within a year of Act 10’s passage, union membership in Wisconsin plummeted.

The controversy helped propel then-Gov. to national fame. Scott Walker, a Republican who signed the changes to the law. Walker celebrated Act 10 as a windfall for taxpayers at a time when the state was projecting a budget deficit.

Listen to the WPR report

A Dane County judge hears arguments in a lawsuit challenging Act 10 was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.