Right-to-work protest at Capitol (File photo: WRN)
A controversial right-to-work law in Wisconsin will be allowed to remain in place, while the state appeals a Dane County judge’s ruling that found the measure unconstitutional.
The state is appealing the ruling from April, which found the law passed by the Republican Legislature last year amounts to an unconstitutional taking of union property. The law prevents employers from making union membership and compensating a union for representation a condition of employment.
In a ruling released late Tuesday, Appeals Court Judge Lisa Stark raised doubts about arguments from union groups challenging the law that they would be harmed by allowing it to remain in place while the case makes its way through the legal system.
A state Department of Justice spokesman said the ruling gives the public more certainty as the case works its way through the courts. “We feel confident the law will ultimately be found constitutional, as it has been in more than half the States across the country,” said spokesman Johnny Koremenos.
AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt called the decision a “temporary setback in the ongoing fight to restore workers’ rights in Wisconsin.”