Wisconsin public workers have won a major legal victory with a ruling that restores collective bargaining rights they lost under Act 10, a 2011 state law forced through by then Governor Scott Walker. Seven unions and 3 labor leaders filed the suit.
Previous legal challenges have failed, but this decision comes after liberal state Supreme Court Justice Janet Protasiewicz was sworn in, flipping the high court's majority for the first time in years.
From Florida to Alaska, workers are facing legal efforts to weaken their power by targeting union certification and dues.
Wisconsin's war on unions has gutted schools. The rest of America could be next.
Wisconsin was the first state to grant public-sector unions the right to negotiate contracts. Before Gov. Gaylord Nelson signed that law in 1959, only unionized workers in private companies had a government-protected right to bargain collectively. The Wisconsin idea soon spread around the country. Act 10 is an about-face, and Gov. Walker and his Republican supporters see it as a tough-minded strategy that other states can follow. History repeating itself, if in reverse.
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