http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/03/18/judge-halts-implementation-of-anti-union-law-in-wisconsin/

  Judge Halts Implementation of Anti-Union Law in
Wisconsin<http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/03/18/judge-halts-implementation-of-anti-union-law-in-wisconsin/>
By:
David Dayen <http://news.firedoglake.com/author/dday/> Friday March 18, 2011
9:10 am

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According to news reporter Jessica
Arp<http://twitter.com/news3jessica/status/48768925458120704#>,
a Dane County judge in Wisconsin has halted the implementation of Gov. Scott
Walker’s anti-union law. Judge Maryann Sumi said that the prosecution was
likely to succeed on their claim that the conference committee for the bill,
which stripped collective bargaining from most state workers, violated open
meeting requirements.

Sumi stressed that she was not judging on the merits of the legislation, but
on the specifics of the open meeting requirements. Wisconsin law requires
that public meetings are announced with 24 hours notice, 2 hours if there’s
some extenuating circumstance which prevents advanced planning. The meeting
in question, the conference committee, actually had less than two hours
notice. “I have been shown no rule that overrides the statutory
requirement,” Judge Sumi said.

The legislature in Wisconsin could simply re-do the conference committee,
under the rules, and pass the bill again. Since they believe it’s a
“non-fiscal” bill, quorum requirements would not apply. Alternatively, with
the Fab 14 Senators back in Madison, they could just pass the budget repair
bill they wanted all along, and have the quorum to do so, unless the
Democrats leave the state again.

But this temporary restraining order will stop the implementation scheduled
for March 25. And it drags out the process once again, keeping it in the
headlines. This is not at all what Scott Walker and the Republicans facing
recall elections wanted to see.

In addition, it gives time for other legal cases to be brought. There could
be municipal challenges that the law’s changes in pension contributions
violates “home rule” provisions that allow the cities and towns to govern
their own pensions for their workers.

Meanwhile, the labor assault in the states continued this week, as Oklahoma
became the latest to eliminate collective bargaining for state
workers<http://newsok.com/oklahoma-house-passes-bill-eliminating-collective-bargaining-in-some-cities/article/3549507>,
reversing a 2004 bill that allowed unionization in municipalities. Like
Scott Walker’s bill in Wisconsin, it exempts police and firefighters, but
strips collective bargaining for “non-uniform” public employees. Four cities
which had agreements before 2004 will get to keep them.

Clearly, this is a coordinated effort to bust unions across the country. But
in Wisconsin, for the time being, they’ve been stopped.
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Spotlight<http://www.thespotlightproject.org/tsp.php?blogUrl=http://news.firedoglake.com/2011/03/18/judge-halts-implementation-of-anti-union-law-in-wisconsin/>
Tags: judicial branch <http://news.firedoglake.com/tag/judicial-branch/>,
Wisconsin <http://news.firedoglake.com/tag/wisconsin/>, public
employees<http://news.firedoglake.com/tag/public-employees/>,
collective bargaining<http://news.firedoglake.com/tag/collective-bargaining/>,
public pension funds <http://news.firedoglake.com/tag/public-pension-funds/>,
open meetings <http://news.firedoglake.com/tag/open-meetings/>, restraining
order <http://news.firedoglake.com/tag/restraining-order/>


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