ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
Wisconsin is home to some of America's oldest labor unions. But back in 2011, it struck a major blow against unions. It passed a law weakening the rights for public employees, like teachers, to negotiate with the state. This week, a lower court struck down that law. Labor supporters say it's a major victory, though it might be temporary. Wisconsin Public Radio's Anya van Wagtendonk joins us from Madison. Hey, Anya.
ANYA VAN WAGTENDONK, BYLINE: Hey.
NADWORNY: So remind us, why was this law so notable when it first passed?
WAGTENDONK: Yeah. Folks may remember the huge Republican wave of 2010, and that happened here in Wisconsin, too. Republicans took over the state legislature, and Republican Scott Walker became governor. So he introduced this bill pretty immediately. And what it did was essentially end collective bargaining rights over things like wages and benefits for most public employees, including teachers. It also made it harder for those kinds of unions to form and collect dues or do other things that keep them going. And the response was massive - up to 100,000 people protested at the state Capitol in Madison night and day for weeks. And some democratic lawmakers actually left the state to try to stop a vote on the bill, all of which drew a ton of national attention.
NADWORNY: And so then what prompted the ruling this week after all these years?
WAGTENDONK: Yeah. One part of the law has been contested for years - firefighters and some police are exempted. And that helps the law pass originally, but unions argued that was unconstitutional because it created two different classes of workers with different rights. But in 2014, that argument lost in federal court, so the law has stayed. This time around, a similar argument was made in state court. And this week that judge found that, actually, those distinctions between different types of workers, and especially between different types of law enforcement, do violate the Wisconsin State Constitution, so that finding would strike down the law. That decision is being appealed, and it's expected to eventually make its way before the Wisconsin Supreme Court for a final verdict.
NADWORNY: And what's been the reaction?
WAGTENDONK: Democrats and unions, and especially unions representing public school teachers, have been, I would say, cautiously excited. Union membership plummeted after the law went into effect. So they see this as a time to attract talent back into the public-sector workforce once they're able to bargain and regain certain health and pension benefits. Peter Rickman was a student leader during the 2011 protests, and today he's a union organizer in Milwaukee. He says this is a chance to kind of rebuild organized labor here.
PETER RICKMAN: I think the moment that we're in here today is a powerful example of what can happen when working-class people band together and fight.
WAGTENDONK: But Republicans say that the law has saved the state billions in those same changes to union health plans and pensions and that it's also made the government more efficient and made the public sector more meritocratic. Former Governor Scott Walker had this to say on social media.
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SCOTT WALKER: This is an early Christmas present to the big government union bosses who want nothing more than to dismantle the reforms that we pass.
NADWORNY: Of course, Wisconsin's current governor is a Democrat. So how does this all fit in with politics in the state now?
WAGTENDONK: Yeah. That Democratic governor is Tony Evers. He's a union supporter, and he's actually a former public school teacher. So he praised the court decision against the law. So where this is actually going to play out politically is in the courts. Like I said, the case is expected to go before the state Supreme Court, and right now that court has a liberal majority that tends to support unions. But there's an election for that court in April, which could swing the balance of the court, and that could determine how this case goes. So over here we are expecting a very intense and very expensive election for that open seat.
NADWORNY: Wisconsin Public Radio's Anya van Wagtendonk. Thanks so much.
WAGTENDONK: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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