Nickdfresh
05-27-2011, 10:53 AM
Wisconsin's union bargaining law struck down
Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times
Friday, May 27, 2011
In yet another twist in Wisconsin's bitter fight over the unions, a judge Thursday struck down the Republican-sponsored bill to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights, moving the battle to the state Supreme Court.
Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled the Legislature violated the state's open meetings law in approving the bill championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker that sparked massive protests and the flight of 14 Democratic senators to Illinois in a futile effort to prevent its passage.
The state Supreme Court is scheduled to decide June 6 whether to hear the case.
As the Wisconsin fight intensifies - with six Republican and three Democratic senators facing recall elections, most likely July 12 - union workers and their allies in Ohio are about halfway toward their goal of collecting more than 450,000 signatures to put a measure on the fall ballot repealing that state's law sharply curtailing the collective bargaining rights of public employees.
The recall proponents need to gather 231,149 valid signatures by the end of June. They say they have collected 214,399 signatures as of last week.
In Wisconsin, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican, said, "The Supreme Court is going to have the ultimate ruling," calling the bill "still a critical part of balancing Wisconsin's budget."
Walker's office referred calls to the Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, who said, "We look forward to the reforms of the budget repair bill being enacted in the near future."
In Washington, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka cheered the decision, saying it "underscores the point that when people's rights are blithely violated, our politics is broken."
Peter Barca, the Democratic leader of the Wisconsin Assembly, said: "Gov. Walker cost the taxpayers by refusing to respectfully sit across the table from his employees, look them in the eye and take yes for an answer on the benefit concessions they offered."
Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he expects the Supreme Court to resolve the issue quickly.
Link (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/27/MNTG1JM0KO.DTL)
Richard Simon, Los Angeles Times
Friday, May 27, 2011
In yet another twist in Wisconsin's bitter fight over the unions, a judge Thursday struck down the Republican-sponsored bill to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights, moving the battle to the state Supreme Court.
Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled the Legislature violated the state's open meetings law in approving the bill championed by Republican Gov. Scott Walker that sparked massive protests and the flight of 14 Democratic senators to Illinois in a futile effort to prevent its passage.
The state Supreme Court is scheduled to decide June 6 whether to hear the case.
As the Wisconsin fight intensifies - with six Republican and three Democratic senators facing recall elections, most likely July 12 - union workers and their allies in Ohio are about halfway toward their goal of collecting more than 450,000 signatures to put a measure on the fall ballot repealing that state's law sharply curtailing the collective bargaining rights of public employees.
The recall proponents need to gather 231,149 valid signatures by the end of June. They say they have collected 214,399 signatures as of last week.
In Wisconsin, Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican, said, "The Supreme Court is going to have the ultimate ruling," calling the bill "still a critical part of balancing Wisconsin's budget."
Walker's office referred calls to the Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch, who said, "We look forward to the reforms of the budget repair bill being enacted in the near future."
In Washington, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka cheered the decision, saying it "underscores the point that when people's rights are blithely violated, our politics is broken."
Peter Barca, the Democratic leader of the Wisconsin Assembly, said: "Gov. Walker cost the taxpayers by refusing to respectfully sit across the table from his employees, look them in the eye and take yes for an answer on the benefit concessions they offered."
Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said he expects the Supreme Court to resolve the issue quickly.
Link (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/27/MNTG1JM0KO.DTL)