AFT-Wisconsin joins broad coalition of Wisconsin unions in filing federal lawsuit to block anti-worker bill

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – June 15, 2011
Jill Bakken
Communications Representative
Bakken.Jill@aft-wisconsin.org 
(608) 770-0498 (cell)

MADISON, WIS—A broad coalition of Wisconsin unions, including AFT-Wisconsin, have filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Act 10, the bill that would gut collective bargaining rights for all but a select group of public workers belonging to unions that supported Gov. Walker in the last election.

The lawsuit charges that Act 10 violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by stripping away basic rights to bargain, organize and associate for the purpose of engaging in union and political activity, which have been in place for the last half century. Only employees working in job classifications represented by the handful of unions who supported Gov. Walker in the last elections were spared from these punitive cutbacks.

The suit contends that it is a violation of the U.S. Constitution for a legislature to discriminate among classes of public employees, particularly when doing so does not advance legitimate policy objectives but instead simply rewards political allies and punishes political opponents.

The lawsuit seeks to enjoin some, but not all, of the provisions of the Budget Repair Bill that enact this discriminatory treatment into law. Significantly, the unions do not seek to enjoin the significant pension and health insurance contribution requirements imposed by the Budget Repair Bill. The unions have long been on record accepting these substantial economic cuts and seek only to preserve their basic rights to bargain and freely associate.

According to AFT-Wisconsin President Bryan Kennedy, “Scott Walker has not only ignored the voice of hundreds of thousands of Wisconsinites who oppose his extremist legislation; he has also taken a baseball bat to the Constitutional rights of one group of public employees. We are optimistic that the courts will agree, and this blatant discrimination will not stand.”

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AFT-Wisconsin is a statewide labor federation representing over 17,000 professional public employees in state agencies, K-12 schools, and higher education. For more information, visit www.aft-wisconsin.org.

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