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Court Rebukes WI Unions In Fight over Walker’s Reforms

By: briansikma (Diary)  |  January 15th, 2013 at 03:39 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

The legal battle over Governor Scott Walker’s collective bargaining reforms isn’t over yet, and in a challenge that has now reached the Wisconsin Court of Appeals a local teachers union is arguing that the law is unconstitutional when applied at the local level. But the unions and their legal team may have suffered a quiet but important setback in late December when, with no fanfare, the Appeals Court requested both sides to file further briefs on the case. In the request, the court specifically noted that cases cited by the unions to prove their point in fact, did not back up the unions’ position.

According to the Appeals Court document, unions challenging Walker’s reform say that the Dane County court decision striking down the law in September of last year should apply to every county in the state. That means that the collective bargaining reforms used by local school boards and municipal governments across Wisconsin would be immediately thrown out, and local governments would have to return to the status quo of allowing unions to forcibly collectively bargain.

Such a move could jeopardize the budgets of many local governing units.

In arguing their case about the scope and applicability of the decision to strike down the reform, the unions cited several cases that the Appeals Court dismissed.

“In sum, none of the authorities cited by the unions for these two propositions directly address the questions of which if any non-parties are bound, and to what extent parties are bound in other controversies. . . .” [Emphasis by the Court]

A few paragraphs further on in the request the court once again dismissed the legal precedents cited by the unions as inapplicable to the case.

“But the unions have provided no direct authority or legal reasoning showing why this would be true.”

Advocates of the reform, including the legal counsel retained by the state to defend the law, were also asked by the Court to address additional questions about the effect of the ruling, but none of their previous arguments or cited cases were dismissed as inapplicable or unconvincing.

Both sides are in the process of filing further briefs in the case and the Court’s decision to blast the unions does not mean the Court will eventually uphold the law. However, it does mean that in their first go around, the unions failed to make their case to the Court.

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  • devan95

    Hey, this is WI! This court is just building cover before they blow Walker out of the water. The unions will make the judges an offer they can’t refuse….

  • http://scipio62.livejournal.com/ scipio62

    Cool. Thanks for the update.

  • northfloridawriter

    If we had ‘LEADERS” in Washington like Gov. Walker and others (including Govs. Scott, JIndal, Brownback, McDonnell, and the new rising start, McCrory) we would be ok. These guys are smart, present themselves well, and can handle pressure.
    The problem is we’ve got Boehner and McConnell, two nice guys who have never seen a deal they want to walk away from. And every time they deal, they get screwed. And they still haven’t figured that out.
    I wil make a prediction, and its not what I want to happen but I think might. If these two guys don’t MAN UP right now, right now dealing with the deficit, the Republican party will die a quick death. Those of us in flyover country have tried to be polite and accept candidates from them that really don’t want to get their hands dirty. I say, no more.
    If we in Florida had listened to Karl Rove and the boys, we would now have the illustrious unprincipled Charlie Crist in the Senate. And guess what, now he says he loves Obama and is a Dem. Duh! We might not have any power, but we “ain’t” stupid.
    Keep it up, DC boys. We will be your biggest nightmare.

    • plh

      Every time they deal, it’s WE who get screwed.

    • daveevad

      Be careful about putting McCrory in this group – arguably a RINO. The conservative leadership in his administration is being driven by Art Pope.

  • scott8251

    Perhaps I’m just being thick, but I don’t see any reason to be excited. The left is notorious for making poor arguments, in our minds, yet manage to win the day. Let’s hope that is not the case here.

    • davesinsanantonio

      Yes. And, what often happens is that the court accepts their poor argument because it is Leftie also. Or, it makes its own poor argument in deciding the case because it is Leftie also. This just shows the importance of voting for conservative judges where judges are elected, and voting for conservative governors where judges are appointed. Every political race is a vital one. And, judicial contests and gubernatorial contests more so.

      • The_Gadfly

        All so very, very true and imperative reasons to vote for conservatives, but…

        Even when it is one Leftie doing a favor for another Leftie, they prefer to do it either quietly, on issues where they believe the already have public opinion on their side, or where a pre-emptive strike will preclude a counter-reaction. In the case of WI and the labor reform laws, none of those are true. The Leftie judges KNOW the people of WI approved the law, and approved of Walker (even if they didn’t necessarily like how he handled it initially). In such cases they prefer to mask themselves as ‘mainstream’ so as to preserve their position in power.

    • celador2

      I agree that it is early to pop the champaigne cork. It is also unclear about which lawsuit the diary reports as there are no judge or case names ,or who when where or what.
      IMO and I am cautious—
      The overall court picture is dismal and there is more to come. There are more than one lawsuits and everyone has seen a hacking away of the Walker collective bargaining reforms. .
      I am not sure the suit brought by teachers in Madison and AFCME workers in federal court will win or not. Walker says state workers are not covered in that law suit so his reforms stand. for state workers It may be that if Walker is lucky his collective bagainiing applies to most state workers but the large union dues rich teachers in Madison, Milwuakee plus some of the county workers get out of it. AFCME lost about two thirds of its members since Walker reforms and they want the dues back involunarily.

      The state sup ct also refused for third time to take up Voter ID. Incredibly liberals have stopped Wisconsin from having voter ID and have only begun on collective bargaining using the courts.

      County judges out of Dane have legislated heavily at a rate I never expected. Walker’s reforms were upheld by state sup ct but there are three to four more suits, and one in federal court pending. One federal judge did let the law stand then a county judge tossed it last fall 2012.

      We have a race for supreme court and if the liberal wins, all is over as they will undo it all as conservatives hold a one seat majority. It all comes down to get out he vote. If they turn out the Zombies they did for obama it is over. It will all be undone. The D candidate for Sup ct run by unions is none other than the first judge to declare Walker reforms unconstitutional.

      US supreme Ct upheld Indiana voter photo ID 2006 or 07. Limits on collective bargaining exist in some states. But, Wisconsin shows how far Democrat judges can go in making policy and override the popular will on voter photo ID and collective bargaining. If these lawsuits do not undo entirely that still weaken the laws and froce us to always defend. Much like the baseless recalls the Ds and unions pulled ooff 2011-12 of state senators, and Lt Governor and governor.

      Electing lawmakers is just a suggestion when it comes to laws anymore–look to the courts for the last and final say. They are the self appointed mullas of the US.

  • joehatfield37

    Did you ever catch that union thug who assaulted you in Lansing last month?

  • eldstenorge

    This is why we need Scott Walker as our next President. He may not be perfect, but he knows the issues and knows how to present them and enact them. He is a gem like America has not seen for years. God bless him.

  • http://www.ajharaldson.com lakeworthcane

    The continued flap over this issue just baffles me.

    Public sector employees are public servants whose jobs can be either created or eliminated at the polls. The voters, and not unions, decide if public-sector jobs should even exist and, if they exist, what the compensation should be and how it should be structured.

    If the voters in Wisconsin decide to eliminate public education and public transportation–highly unlikely but entirely possible–these so called “union bosses” can’t do anything about it.

    So, I don’t get this at all. Wisconsin voters elected Walker because they want him to cut public-sector costs. That’s his job. That’s what he was hired to do. The voters are his boss.

    Such are the perils of public-sector employment. One’s job and working conditions are subject to the whims of voters. The compensation and working conditions can be great. But in any given election, the voters can–as they apparently did in Wisconsin–elect politicians who vow to cut costs by either slimming down public-sector compensation packages or eliminating the jobs all together.

    If public-sector employees rise up and say they have rights to their jobs or, if their jobs are eliminated, they have rights to some other kind of work, the voters can answer by electing politicians who vow to eliminate public-sector job security, so public-sector jobs and employees can be gotten rid of to cut costs.

    I think that’s something around which a lot of public-sector employees simply cannot wrap their minds. They do not have rights to other people’s money. The people can vote to take away all the money. The people have voted thusly before, and they will again, and public-sector workers really can’t do much about it.

    Romney talked about reducing the number of non-uniformed, federal public-sector workers by about 10 percent. Obama won the election. But if Romney had won, he’d be both duty-bound and perfectly within his province to simply eliminate public-sector jobs.

    Before WWII, Roosevelt cut military pay by 10 percent. After WWII, he simply got rid of many military personnel: simply eliminated their jobs, and they were on their own.

    Ultimately, I can understand the union administrators fighting tooth and nail for money. People do that all the time. But I cannot understand why the courts don’t simply assert that Walker’s actions are the will of the people of Wisconsin. They voted for this.

    What are the courts trying to say; the will of the people is against the law? The people of Wisconsin don’t have the legal authority to pay their public servants less, or to not pay them at all, if they so vote?

    Jeez, leftists vote all the time to reduce or even eliminate the military and its surrounding industry, with no compunction: without empathy or sympathy for the hardships they impose on the uniformed personnel and arms-industry workers who will suffer.

    Now the other foot falls: other public-sector jobs–teachers, bus drivers, trash collectors–are equally as subject to voter disapproval . . . and suddenly the public sector and its unions are up in arms, crying “foul,” and spitting out legal challenges like babies spit out strained carrots.

    This whole issue is just ridiculous. I can’t believe the media side step the basic facts just to create a hot news issue. It’s not an issue. The people have spoken. That’s the law of the land.

    Public sector unions are a scam perpetrated by the unions on pubic-sector employees. Ultimately, the unions have absolutely no authority in the face of voter demands.