Confusion abounds on Act 10 ruling's jurisdiction

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MADISON - A union attorney says it’s clear that public school-and-local government employees throughout Wisconsin are exempt from most collective bargaining limits in Act-10. Lester Pines said Friday the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission cannot enforce the parts of the law which were thrown out last fall by Dane County Circuit Judge Juan Colas. And if the state tries to enforce them, Pines said they’ll ask a judge to find the state in contempt of court.

State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says it’s clear that the Colas decision only applies to the two unions which filed the original case – Madison teachers and Milwaukee city workers. Van Hollen made that claim when he said he would not ask the Supreme Court to re-instate all of Act-10 until an appeals court could rule on his challenge to Judge Colas’s decision. That ruling allowed public unions to negotiate on any items that management would accept – not just pay raises at-or-below inflation, which Act-10 called for.

But the public employers still can impose their final offers if a deal is not reached. And except for Milwaukee workers, all other public employees must still pay the higher pension and health care costs outlined in Act-10. Milwaukee has its own pension system – and Colas said it would violate home rule powers to make those employees pay the higher contributions.

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