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A state appeals court has overturned a lower court ruling that found Wisconsin’s right-to-work law was unconstitutional.
The law, passed by Republican lawmakers and Governor Scott Walker in 2015, prohibits employers from making union membership a condition of employment. Union groups contend that amounts to an unconstitutional taking of their property, since non-union workers still benefit from union negotiations.
A Dane County judge overturned the law last year, in a ruling the Wisconsin District Three Court of Appeals on Tuesday reversed. The court found that the law still allows employees to unionize, and any benefit non-members receive “does not deprive compensation for those mandated services.”
The ruling is similar to one reached in federal court, after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals found in July that the law was constitutional and threw out the lawsuit.