Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen had asked appeals court to stay a rule by a Dane County judge that said parts of the collective-bargaining law are unconstitutional.
A Wisconsin appeals court Tuesday refused to put a hold on a judge's decision repealing major parts of Act 10, the law that ended collective bargaining for most public workers. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen in September had asked the 4th District Court of Appeals to stay the ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas that portions of the law were unconsitutional. Van Hollen wanted to stay the decision while the case was being appealed. Colas refused in October to do so, and the state appeals court on Tuesday upheld that decision, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The appeals court said it saw "no basis to set aside the circuit court's decision that a stay was not warranted," the State Journal reported. Today’s ruling likely …
Friday, January 18, 2013
Act 10, which essentially stripped public unions of their ability to bargain, was ruled constitutional on Friday in a federal appeals court.
The controversial state law that curtails collective bargaining for most public employees was upheld by a federal appeals court Friday. In ruling that Act 10 is constitutional, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said the state had a rational reason for rolling back collective bargaining rights, and rejected arguments from public employees unions that they violated First Amendment rights, WisPolitics.com reported. The court overturned a decision by a federal judge last year that struck down parts of the law dealing with prohibitions on government employers withholding union dues from workers' payrolls and a section requiring labor unions to vote to re-certify yearly, the Journal Sentinel reported. A separate case challenging the law remains …
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Gov. Scott Walker talks about the Dane County judge's ruling on the state's collective bargaining law during this week's radio address.
The state partnered with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association to produce and distribute brief radio address once a week. Audio files and a written transcript of this radio address can be accessed on http://www.wi-broadcasters.org and http://walker.wi.gov/Weekly-Radio-Addresses. To download an mp3 file, you can right click the radio address link and click “save link as.” Hi, this is Scott Walker. As you may have heard, recently, a Dane County judge in Madison issued a ruling that struck down key provisions of the budget reforms enacted late last year. We are confident this ruling will be overturned because Act 10 is constitutional. This would not be the first time a Dane County judge's decision on Act 10 was held to be wrong by a …
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Organizers are angered with rulings on voter ID law, collective bargaining and more — and they want to send a message via a protest rally.
Area conservatives have planned a rally protesting recent decisions made by Dane County judges from 10 to 11 a.m. Saturday at the state Capitol in Madison. The organizing group consists of Caledonia resident Eddie Willing, a member of Founders Intent; Paris Procopis, an activist affiliated with Founders Intent; Wisconsin state treasurer Kurt Schuller; the Tea Party Patriots; an unnamed former judge; and an unnamed state legislator. “We demand they respect the other two branches of government and allow our state to run by the consent of the people,” according to a statement released by the group. “Our state Constitution needs judges that apply the law the people write, not reinterpret it.” The purpose of the rally is to remind “judges they…
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Despite all the furor in Madison last year over the rights of public workers, new poll says Democrats are most concerned about jobs as they head to the polls in Tuesday's recall primary election.
When tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on the Wisconsin Capitol in February and March 2011, the protests were all about Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill and how it changed collective bargaining for public employees. In fact, it was the outrage over the passage of that bill — known as Act 10 when it became law — that was the impetus for the effort to recall Walker from office. But with the Democratic primary election less than a week away, and the general recall election slated for June 5, the issue of collective bargaining has pretty much taken a back seat to jobs and other issues, according to a poll released Wednesday. The Marquette University Law School Poll says 46 percent of those who are likely to vote in Tuesday's …
Monday, April 16, 2012
Milwaukee mayor and gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett welcomed another endorsement, from U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, in his campaign to unseat Gov. Scott Walker. In other news, see details on the latest poll on the Democratic primary.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett picked up another endorsement Monday, from U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee), in his push to grab the Democratic nod and unseat Gov. Scott Walker in June's recall election. Voters are a little more than three weeks away from tapping Walker's Democratic challenger, and Barrett was on the campaign trail in Milwaukee touting how his administration would end Wisconsin's political civil war and restore collective bargaining and tax fairness, while fielding the endorsement from Moore. Barrett will square off against former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) and Secretary of State Doug La Follette in a Democratic primary May 8. The winner will take on Walker on June 5. Barrett …
Friday, June 10, 2011
Rep. Chris Kapegna, R-Delafield, says people are frustrated that public safety workers are exempt from the state's collective-bargaining changes.
A Republicans legislator wishes Gov. Scott Walker's plan to strip public employees of their collective-bargaining rights would have included police officers and firefighters, according to reports published today. Rep. Chris Kapenga, R-Delafield, told the Associated Press that police and fire workers "bought" an exemption to Walker's proposal, which affects tens of thousands of public employees in the state. Kapenga told the Wisconsin State Journal: There’s a reason why they are not being put in with the rest of the public employee unions. I don’t know what that reason is.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi struck down the state Legislature's budget repair bill which eliminated most collective bargaining for most public workers.
A Dane County judge today struck down the controversial budget repair bill that eliminated most collective bargaining for most public employees. Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi released a 33-page decision Thursday nullifying Act 10, which prompted thousands of protestors to crowd the state Capitol for weeks. But the decision, posted on The Wheeler Report, will not end the litigation. The state Supreme Court has been asked to consider the case, and state legislators are preparing to re-insert the collective bargaining changes in the state's 2011-13 budget. At least one legislator — Independent Rep. Bob Ziegelbauer of Manitowoc — is trying to add police, fire and other public safety workers to the collective bargaining changes. They …
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Before the meeting, protestors marched along Moreland Boulevard.
Protesters who braved a thunderstorm Tuesday night were disappointed after the Waukesha County Board approved a resolution, 19 to 3, supporting state legislation that eliminates collective bargaining for employees' benefits. The protesters — teachers, social workers, private citizens, members of various unions and at least one police officer — met outside the courthouse and marched along Moreland Boulevard in the cold, driving rain for about a half an hour prior to the County Board meeting. Inside the courthouse and after being cleared by security, more than 100 people filled the county board room. In the board room, the crowd was quiet until after the board approved the resolution. After that happened, most of the audience got up to leave…
Fred Fischer
8:59 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Lots of emotions here. I would think there's more of an advantage to not collectively bargain. That way the best producers will be rewarded adequately and not be dragged down by the weak and/or lazy. Also, I don't think anyone should be forced to join a union. more ›