Wisconsin municipal employees’ collective bargaining rights might be restored

When first passed on March 9, 2011, Wisconsin Act 10 restricted collective bargaining rights for public sector employees. It allowed “public safety employees” to continue to collectively bargain with their municipal employers but effectively eliminated collective bargaining rights for all other municipal employees. Act 10 survived legal challenges in both federal and Wisconsin courts. In November 2023, a group of seven union organizations and other interested individuals filed a lawsuit claiming Act 10 violates the equal protection guarantees of the state constitution. On July 3, 2024, a Dane County Circuit Court judge agreed.

Court finds unequal treatment with no rational basis

The union organizations filed their lawsuit after Justice Janet Protasiewicz was elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, potentially tilting the court’s balance to a liberal majority. They were also influenced by a legal challenge filed in Missouri, which found that a similar attempt to curtail public sector bargaining was unconstitutional because the law violated the Missouri Constitution’s equal protection clause.