AP via Washington Post (June15,2k11)
Wis. state workers to begin paying more for benefits in Aug., new lawsuit filed over union law
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin state employees will start paying more for their health care and pension benefits in late August, state officials said Wednesday as a coalition of unions filed a new lawsuit against the GOP-supported plan that strips away collective bargaining rights from most public workers.
The announcement came a day after the state Supreme Court ruled that a lower court judge overstepped her authority when she voided the governor’s polarizing plan to prohibit workers from collectively bargaining over anything except base pay increases no greater than inflation. Local police, firefighters and state patrol are exempt.
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( Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Tom Lynn / Associated Press ) - Singing “solidarity forever” and holding their fists in the air inside of the Wisconsin State Capital in Madison, Wis., union members protest the budget repair bill Tuesday, June 14, 2011.
The law also requires workers to pay 12 percent of their health insurance costs and 5.8 percent of their pension costs, which amount to an 8 percent pay cut on average.
The Supreme Court’s ruling was a major victory for Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who said the law was needed to help address the state’s $3.6 billion budget shortfall. His proposal — which drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to the state Capitol for weeks earlier this year — thrust Wisconsin to the forefront of a national debate over labor rights.
But the legal battle was not yet over. A coalition of unions filed a federal lawsuit on Wednesday arguing that the law violated the U.S. Constitution by taking away union rights to bargain, organize and associate and illegally discriminates among classes of public employees. The lawsuit seeks to block portions of the law taking away collective bargaining rights, but allows the higher pension and health care contributions that the unions agreed to take to move forward.
“Scott Walker has created two classes of public sector workers and that is unconstitutional,” said Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Phil Neuenfeldt. “When a legislature discriminates among classes of workers, especially when doing so has more to do with political payback than with any legitimate reasoning, the law has been violated.”
State Department of Justice spokesman Steven Means said he had not seen the lawsuit yet and had no immediate comment. But Walker told reporters the Supreme Court’s decision provided closure and allowed the state to move forward.
Read more of this important news report in WaPo.
-- WaPo materials re-posted by EconoMix
