AG Wants Act 10 Ruling Put On Hold

Wisconsin’s Attorney General says his office will move quickly to try to stay a court decision that restored collective bargaining rights for local government employees and teachers.

A “stay” of the court ruling handed down Friday would effectively put the decision on hold while an appeal of the ruling moves forward. Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says that would have a stabilizing effect. “We have concerns with the decision from a number of different perspectives, one of which being that it doesn’t apply universally, it’s causing an awful lot of confusion. We believe it will ultimately be overturned, in which case the law shouldn’t be changing midstream here and have it change back again.”

Van Hollen will first ask Dane County Judge Juan Colas to stay his own decision, which he concedes happens rarely. If Judge Colas denies that motion, Van Hollen would ask an appeals court to do the same thing. As of right now, the law known as “Act 10” as it applies to city, county or school employees is null and void.

Judge Colas said in his opinion that collective bargaining was not a right, but he said Wisconsin’s collective bargaining law violated union workers constitutional rights of association and equal protection.

Van Hollen says he thinks the Judge was mistaken. “He very clearly states that collective bargaining is not a constitutional right, and then basically using what we believe is an inappropriate standard, kind of back-doors that and shows how it’s constitutionally protected anyway. You really can’t have the argument both ways.”

Van Hollen’s office is also appealing another ruling against the collective bargaining law in federal court.It struck down smaller provisions of the law that made it harder for unions to collect dues and stay certified.