Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen had asked appeals court to stay a rule by a Dane County judge that said parts of the collective-bargaining law are unconstitutional.
A Wisconsin appeals court Tuesday refused to put a hold on a judge's decision repealing major parts of Act 10, the law that ended collective bargaining for most public workers. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen in September had asked the 4th District Court of Appeals to stay the ruling by Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas that portions of the law were unconsitutional. Van Hollen wanted to stay the decision while the case was being appealed. Colas refused in October to do so, and the state appeals court on Tuesday upheld that decision, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. The appeals court said it saw "no basis to set aside the circuit court's decision that a stay was not warranted," the State Journal reported. Today’s ruling likely …
Friday, January 18, 2013
Act 10, which essentially stripped public unions of their ability to bargain, was ruled constitutional on Friday in a federal appeals court.
The controversial state law that curtails collective bargaining for most public employees was upheld by a federal appeals court Friday. In ruling that Act 10 is constitutional, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said the state had a rational reason for rolling back collective bargaining rights, and rejected arguments from public employees unions that they violated First Amendment rights, WisPolitics.com reported. The court overturned a decision by a federal judge last year that struck down parts of the law dealing with prohibitions on government employers withholding union dues from workers' payrolls and a section requiring labor unions to vote to re-certify yearly, the Journal Sentinel reported. A separate case challenging the law remains …
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Gov. Scott Walker talks about the Dane County judge's ruling on the state's collective bargaining law during this week's radio address.
The state partnered with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association to produce and distribute brief radio address once a week. Audio files and a written transcript of this radio address can be accessed on http://www.wi-broadcasters.org and http://walker.wi.gov/Weekly-Radio-Addresses. To download an mp3 file, you can right click the radio address link and click “save link as.” Hi, this is Scott Walker. As you may have heard, recently, a Dane County judge in Madison issued a ruling that struck down key provisions of the budget reforms enacted late last year. We are confident this ruling will be overturned because Act 10 is constitutional. This would not be the first time a Dane County judge's decision on Act 10 was held to be wrong by a …
Friday, September 14, 2012
As news of Dane County Circuit Court Judge Juan Colas' decision to strike down the state's collective bargaining law spread, liberals marked the ruling a win while conservatives took issue with it.
- ELECTIONS
- Jim Price
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Friday, September 14, 2012
Just hours after Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas decided that the state’s collective bargaining law was unconstitutional, reaction from liberals and conservatives erupted. According to our media partners at FOX 6 News, Colas ruled Act 10 – the budget repair bill – as null and void because the law violates both the state and U.S. constitutions. Specifically, the law violates the guarantee of freedom of speech and citizens' freedom of association. The news heated up Wisconsin liberals and conservatives on social media sites, caused outrage and praise from elected officials and candidates, and pleased top union officials. John Pokrandt of Wauwatosa, Democratic candidate for 13th Assembly District (including Elm Grove and south Brookfield…
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Despite all the furor in Madison last year over the rights of public workers, new poll says Democrats are most concerned about jobs as they head to the polls in Tuesday's recall primary election.
When tens of thousands of demonstrators descended on the Wisconsin Capitol in February and March 2011, the protests were all about Gov. Scott Walker's budget-repair bill and how it changed collective bargaining for public employees. In fact, it was the outrage over the passage of that bill — known as Act 10 when it became law — that was the impetus for the effort to recall Walker from office. But with the Democratic primary election less than a week away, and the general recall election slated for June 5, the issue of collective bargaining has pretty much taken a back seat to jobs and other issues, according to a poll released Wednesday. The Marquette University Law School Poll says 46 percent of those who are likely to vote in Tuesday's …
Monday, April 16, 2012
Milwaukee mayor and gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett welcomed another endorsement, from U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, in his campaign to unseat Gov. Scott Walker. In other news, see details on the latest poll on the Democratic primary.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett picked up another endorsement Monday, from U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Milwaukee), in his push to grab the Democratic nod and unseat Gov. Scott Walker in June's recall election. Voters are a little more than three weeks away from tapping Walker's Democratic challenger, and Barrett was on the campaign trail in Milwaukee touting how his administration would end Wisconsin's political civil war and restore collective bargaining and tax fairness, while fielding the endorsement from Moore. Barrett will square off against former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk, state Sen. Kathleen Vinehout (D-Alma) and Secretary of State Doug La Follette in a Democratic primary May 8. The winner will take on Walker on June 5. Barrett …
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Fire Department supervisors would get a 3 percent pay raise and benefit parity after two years; other non-represented employee would see only about half of that.
- GOVERNMENT
- Jim Price
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Wednesday, December 14, 2011
With the focus all year on the reduction of collective bargaining rights of unionized government employees, far less attention has been paid to those public workers who are not union-represented — administrators, supervisors, engineers and the like. In separate actions Tuesday, Wauwatosa moved forward with proposals on pay and benefits for its Fire Department supervisors, and for all other non-union employees other than police supervisors. In a first proposal, recommended unanimously Tuesday by the Budget and Finance Committee of the Common Council, the six unrepresented Fire Department supervisors — the chief, deputy chiefs and assistant chiefs — would get 3 percent wage increases to keep them in line with union firefighters and officers…
Friday, November 18, 2011
Governor's neighbor makes his feelings known on politics and the role of public workers.
- GOVERNMENT
- Jim Price
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Friday, November 18, 2011
Two voices harmonize what is America. "It's a great country where both sides can come out and assemble and say what they want," Dan Yendrzeski of Menomonee Falls said Tuesday night at the recall rally that drew about 1,000 people to Wauwatosa. "There's not a lot countries where you can say that." On the Wauwatosa street where Gov. Scott Walker lives, resident Gary Johnson recalls what his wife said earlier this year, the first time 1,000 people showed up to protest the governor's policies. "She came home through the crowds," Johnson said, "and told me, 'This is America. Isn't that great, that we should all be able to do this?'" The difference and dissonance follow. Yendrzeski, standing at Juneau Playfield at the time, had gone on to say …
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Crowd is generally well-behaved, with a little strong talk but no jostling between sides in debate of whether to recall Wisconsin governor.
- GOVERNMENT
- Jim Price
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Tuesday, November 15, 2011
A crowd that eventually grew to about 1,000 descended Tuesday evening on the block where Gov. Scott Walker and his family live in Wauwatosa, kicking off the first day of the statewide recall effort against the first-term executive almost in his own front yard. There, organizers set up tables at the homes of several residents of the block, neighbors of Walker's, who invited people to stop by and sign recall petitions. A handful of counter-protesters showed up as well, and some words were exchanged — not all perfectly polite — but there were no real outbreaks. Recall advocates chanted and brought a small brass band, a few thumped drums and the bottoms of 5-gallon buckets; waved a variety of flags ranging from Old Glory to the raised fist; …
While politicians on both sides craft talking points, Wisconsin residents speak out on the reforms that have passed in Walker's first year in office.
For years, Tom Scheer has stood on the political sidelines, but all that changed this year after Republican Gov. Scott Walker took office and introduced controversial limitations to collective bargaining, a bill allowing the concealed carry of weapons and a voter identification bill. Scheer was one of hundreds of people across the state who signed petitions to recall Walker Tuesday. He said Walker never talked about collective bargaining restrictions in his campaign, which to Scheer is representative of a larger silencing of the voice of people in Wisconsin. "Virtually everything he's done when he's been in office has been something that was not talked about during his campaign, and what the people have wanted since he was elected has been…
Fred Fischer
8:59 pm on Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Lots of emotions here. I would think there's more of an advantage to not collectively bargain. That way the best producers will be rewarded adequately and not be dragged down by the weak and/or lazy. Also, I don't think anyone should be forced to join a union. more ›