regionvii posted on October 06, 2011 10:08
On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, in a 4-3 vote, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that GOP Governor Scott Walker’s law stripping state and local workers of collective bargaining rights could
take effect, thereby handing Walker and anti-worker forces a major victory. The court ruled that Dane County (Madison) Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi — a Republican appointee — overstepped her bounds when she invalidated the law earlier this year. Walker’s law is important because it is the spearhead for the nationwide big business, radical right-GOP campaign to strip
workers of their rights and trash unions, while also depriving unionists and their allies, in some cases, even of the right to vote.
That business drive manifests itself in states from Wisconsin to Ohio—where GOP Gov. John Kasich stripped all 400,000 state and local workers of bargaining rights and outlawed organizing rights for home health care workers—to Tennessee to New Hampshire. The New Hampshire GOP-run legislature passed a right-to-work law. Democratic Gov. John Lynch vetoed it and the state AFL-CIO is trying to uphold his veto.
And the right wing push has in turn galvanized unionists nationwide to campaign to protect themselves, and to enlist their neighbors, civil rights groups and community groups in the crusade, too. Walker’s law criminalizes public worker collective bargaining for anything other
than wages, and limits wage bargaining to the inflation rate. The law also requires public employees to pay more for health insurance and pensions. But Sumi’s decision had nothing to do with the contents of Walker’s anti-worker law. Instead, it focused on how the legislature made a fool of itself by violating the state’s Open Meetings Law in passing Walker’s measure. Unfortunately, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court disagreed and has eliminated collective bargaining rights for state and local workers. But the fight isn’t over.
A number of lawsuits are now expected as they couldn’t be brought until the law took effect.
According to the Huffington Post, “Tuesday's ruling means the law is in effect but it wasn't immediately clear when public employees would be affected. There are no plans to apply paycheck deductions retroactively, said Rep. RobinVos, co-chairman of the Legislature's budget committee.Walker's top aide, Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch,
said the ruling was being reviewed.”
(PAI contributed to this story)