NFIB expects higher court to uphold law, however.
Business and Worker Protections Struck Down in Court
In
early April, Dane County Circuit Judge William Foust sided with labor unions in
his ruling that Wisconsin’s right to work law is unconstitutional.
The
law prohibits unions from requiring all workers, including nonmembers, to pay
dues, which ensures that employees have a right to choose whether to join—and
financially support—a union. Three unions filed the lawsuit shortly after Gov.
Walker signed the law in March 2015, arguing that the law enacted an illegal
and unconstitutional seizure of their private property. Judge Foust agreed and
said that the law’s elimination of part of unions’ revenue stream while they
must still, by law, represent and extend benefits to workers who don’t pay dues
amounts to the government taking funds without compensation, reported NBC
News.
This
ruling, however, contradicts all other courts throughout the country that have
unanimously found right to work laws constitutional, as well as the fact that
federal law expressly authorizes right to work statutes. Twenty-five other
states have right to work laws on the books.
The
good news is that this ruling is likely only temporary bad news. NFIB Small
Business Legal Center has joined with the Wisconsin Institute for Law &
Liberty and the National Right to Work Foundation to defend Wisconsin’s law,
and we are confident that the law will be upheld.
