Public Employees’ Collective Bargaining Lawsuit

In November 2023, a group of Wisconsin workers and labor unions have filed a new lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the 2011 law known as Act 10, eliminating the right of certain public employees to negotiate with our employers in areas like salary schedules, workplace safety hours and other conditions of employment. The plaintiff’s included the Abbotsford Education Association, the Beaver Dam Education Association, and BDEA member Matt Ziebarth.

In July 2024, the WEAC affiliates and the other plaintiffs prevailed in the lawsuit. Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jacob Frost ruled major portions of Act 10 unconstitutional. The state has appealed the ruling, and the great likelihood is that the case will eventually end up in front of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

“Today’s ruling brings us one step closer to our shared goal,” said WEAC President Peggy Wirtz-Olsen. “WEAC and labor partners won’t stop until we achieve free, fair and full collective bargaining rights to negotiate with our employers.”

We are the educators who are there every day for students, the correctional officers who keep communities safe and the essential workers who make sure our communities run smoothly. Wisconsin is better when all employees have a say in our workplaces, whether about class sizes in our schools, safety on the job, hours or any other number of areas. The current law that discriminates against some workers while upholding the same rights for others is unconstitutional.