Attorney to court: Wis. union plan is burden
By TODD RICHMOND, Associated Press
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| Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen presents arguments in Madison Teachers Inc. vs. Scott Walker, in the Wisconsin Supreme Court at the state Capitol in Madison, Wis., Monday, Nov. 11, 2013. Van Hollen argued that portions of Gov. Scott Walker's union restrictions are constitutional. Photo: M.P. KING, AP |
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Labor attorneys pushed the state Supreme Court on Monday to strike down portions of Republican Gov. Scott Walker's public union restrictions, arguing the prohibitions are designed to force school district and municipal workers to abandon their unions.
The court's decision could bring to an end one of the last unresolved legal challenges to the contentious restrictions that stripped almost all public workers of nearly all their union rights. Union supporters face an uphill fight, though, because conservative justices control the court.
Lester Pines, an attorney for a Madison teachers union, pressed ahead during oral arguments Monday, telling the justices that Walker's restrictions penalize local public workers who exercise their constitutional right to freely associate with a union. Their organizations can't collectively bargain for anything beyond base wage increases based on inflation or automatically withdraw dues from members' paychecks and must hold annual
