WASHINGTON — The bombshell ruling by a Dane County judge overturning a Wisconsin law that banned some public employees from unionizing is drawing a mixed reaction in Congress.
More than thirteen years ago, protests erupted at the Wisconsin State Capitol. Legislation that would take away collective bargaining rights for certain public sector workers, like teachers, was under consideration by state lawmakers. Mark Pocan, who was then a member of the State Assembly, spoke out against the measure on the floor.
“So, the governor can do what he wants,” Pocan said in 2011. “If he wants to ignore the people, if he wants to ignore the unions, if he's going to just completely refuse to negotiate, that's his choice. But we are a different and separate branch of government. We are a check and balance to government.”
Despite opposition by protestors’ and Democrats, the Republican-led legislature passed the bill, which was signed by Republican Governor Scott Walker.
“I think it’ll be good for the middle class for years to come in Wisconsin,” Walker said in 2011.
Now, after many failed challenges, opponents of so-called Act 10 were successful: A judge in blue Dane County ruled Monday that public workers and teachers should be able to bargain for wage increases and other benefits.
Pocan, who now represents Madison in Congress, said he’s “thrilled our public servants are able to once again organize and make their voices heard.”
Not everyone’s so happy. In an interview with Spectrum News on Monday, Walker said the move was a “gift” to special interests.
“Brazen political activism,” he called it.
Other Republicans who were also in the state legislature in 2011 are speaking out too. Scott Fitzgerald, now a member of Congress, said it was “hardly shocking” that the decision came from Dane County, a liberal stronghold.
“Act 10 empowered Wisconsin taxpayers & returned our state to fiscal responsibility,” he posted on X. “This decision is a travesty and will have devastating consequences.”
Tom Tiffany, who has also moved on to Congress, posted online that this was “judicial activism.”
“The Left's relentless efforts to undermine Act 10 are nothing more than an attempt to raise your taxes and expand government control,” Tiffany said online.
The decision will almost certainly be appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which right now has a liberal majority, but an election in April could change that.