Wisconsin right-to-work law struck down by court as unconstitutional
Right-to-work laws prohibit businesses and unions from reaching agreements that require all workers, not just union members, to pay union dues
Associated Press
Friday 8 April 2016 19.09 EDT Last modified on Friday 8 April 2016 20.28 EDT
Wisconsin’s so-called “right-to-work” law, championed by Republican governor
Scott Walker as he was mounting his run for president, was struck down on Friday as violating the state constitution.
Wisconsin’s attorney general, Brad Schimel, also a Republican, promised to appeal against the decision and said he was confident it would not stand. Schimel has not made a decision on whether to seek an immediate suspension of the ruling while the appeal is pending, spokesman Johnny Koremenos said.
“We are confident Wisconsin’s freedom-to-work law is constitutional and will ultimately be upheld,” Walker wrote on Twitter.
Three unions
filed the lawsuit last year shortly after Walker
signed the bill into law. So-called right-to-work laws prohibit businesses and unions from reaching agreements that require all workers, not just union members, to pay union dues. Twenty-four other states have such laws.
The unions argued that Wisconsin’s law was an unconstitutional seizure of union property since unions now must extend benefits to workers who don’t pay dues. Dane County circuit judge William Foust agreed.
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