Union members rally against right-to-work bill
A federal appeals court has upheld a decision that found Wisconsin’s right-to-work law is constitutional.
Wednesday’s ruling from a three-judge panel in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals backs up a September decision by a U.S. District Judge The ruling found Wisconsin’s law was nearly identical to Indiana’s, which had previously been upheld as well.
Wisconsin’s right-to-work law was passed in 2015. It prevents employers from making union membership or paying union dues a condition of employment. The International Union of Operating Engineers, which filed the lawsuit, argued that allows workers to benefit from union efforts, without being members.
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel praised the decision. “The decision from the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit affirms what we have argued since this law was enacted in 2015, that Right-to-Work is constitutional,” Schimel said in a statement. “The Constitution does not protect a union’s right to take money from non-union members and I’m proud to have defended the rule of law in Wisconsin.”