Wisconsin Workers file lawsuit to block Anti‐Union Bill

For Immediate Release: June 15, 2011
Contact: Karen Hickey, 414‐573‐7579

Madison, WI ‐ The Wisconsin State AFL‐CIO joins a broad coalition of worker right’s organizations today in filing a legal challenge to Gov. Walker’s Budget Repair Bill. The organizations include the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 24, AFSCME Council 40, AFSCME Council 48, the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC), the Wisconsin State Employees Union, The Wisconsin State AFL‐CIO and the Service Employees International Union – Health Care Wisconsin (SEIU).

Together the organizations are filing a federal law suit against Scott Walker’s bill which denies hundreds of thousands of public employees their right to collectively bargain for a better life. The groups challenge the constitutionality of the state’s Budget Repair Bill which would destroy collective bargaining rights for all but a select group of public sector workers.

"Not only have Scott Walker and his deep‐pocketed corporate allies sought to silence the voices of Wisconsin workers, they have also violated those workers constitutional rights,” said Phil Neuenfeldt, Wisconsin State AFL‐CIO. “Scott Walker has created two classes of public sector workers and that is unconstitutional. When a legislature discriminates among classes of workers, especially when doing so has more to do with political payback than with any legitimate reasoning, the law has been violated.”

The lawsuit charges that the Budget Repair Bill 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 activity, which have been in place for the last half century.

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. Significantly, the unions do not seek to enjoin the pension and health insurance contribution requirements imposed by the Budget Repair Bill. Public sector unions have made it clear from day one that Wisconsin workers would do their part to share in the sacrifice and keep our state moving forward. The lawsuit only seeks to preserve the basic right to bargain and freely associate.

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