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 …
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Preliminary numbers have been giving to the office and professional employee union as the city begins collective bargaining for next year.
The City of Waukesha is asking some workers to take a pay freeze in 2013 as the city moves forward with negotiations with its public employee unions. The initial wage proposal, which calls for no raises next year, was delivered to the office and professional union Thursday afternoon. The union has not yet submitted its proposal to the city. That union is the first one representing city workers to receive a wage proposal. Typically, all city workers receive the same offer, so it's likely that city officials will ask the same of other unions. Under the provisions of the state's new collective bargaining law, public employees – with the exception of police and fire personnel – can only negotiate wages and not other working conditions. Gov. …
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
But district is offering just half-percent raises as School Board attorney says negotiations are limited to base wages under the state's new collective bargaining law.
While School District of Waukesha officials are offering the teachers union a 0.5 percent base wage increase, the union is asking for a 1.64 percent salary increase for the 2011-12 school year. An agreement has not yet been reached as the initial proposal from the union was delivered to the School Board on Tuesday. The salary increase is based on the cost of living increase from the 2010-11 school year, said Cathy Atkinson, president of the Education Association of Waukesha. But the district won’t be able to negotiate under the union’s proposal, said Gary Ruesch, the attorney for the School Board, because the district can only negotiate for base wages under Act 10’s collective bargaining rules. Because salaries can include supplemental pay…
Monday, September 24, 2012
Union wants to review school district's financial figures before submitting its wage increase proposal.
The Waukesha School District is prepared to offer its teachers a 0.5 percent wage increase for the 2011-12 school year, but the union is not yet prepared to give a wage proposal as it moves forward with negotiations. The wage increases, if accepted by the union, would be paid to the teachers retroactively. After the 2011-12 contract is settled, school officials can begin work on the 2012-13 teaching contracts. The settling of the past school year’s contracts were delayed because of changes in the state’s Act 10 collective bargaining law that limits public unions from negotiations except for wages. The school district’s last contract expired in June 2011. Teachers had wages frozen for the 2009-10 school year and received a 1 percent wage …
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 …
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
To avoid confusion on whether or not Act 10 is in effect, J.B. Van Hollen is asking the court for a stay while the case is being appealed.
As expected, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen Tuesday filed a motion to stay the latest decision about Act 10, the collective bargaining law. Last Friday, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Juan Colas ruled that parts of Act 10 are unconstitutional because the law violates the guarantee of freedom of speech and citizens' freedom of association. Colas also determined that Act 10 does not offer equal protection under the law because it creates a separate class of state workers. In his motion to the Dane County Circuit Court, Van Hollen outlines his belief that the decision will be overturned on appeal. Until the appellate court rules, Van Hollen believes a stay is appropriate to avoid any confusion for municipalities and school districts that …
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.
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 ›