Act 10 ruling: What's the next step?

WLUK TV

Updated: Sep 18, 2012 3:23 AM

GREEN BAY — Three days removed from Dane County Circuit Court Judge Juan Col�s' ruling, overturning a portion of the controversial Act 10 law that stripped local government and school district employees of their collective bargaining rights, what is the next step in the legal process?

Wisconsin Attorney General J.B Van Hollen said in a phone interview with FOX 11, he will be filing a motion with Judge Col�s, asking him to stay his order pending an appeal.

He says if the stay is not granted - which he believes will be filed in the coming days or week - then the DOJ would move on to the appellate court to make the same request.

"It's important to get this (ruling) clarified as soon as we can so that local units of government know what law they are operating under," said Van Hollen to FOX 11's Bill Miston.

Van Hollen says the ruling is inaccurate and it can have "a far-reaching and immediate impact on the will of the people - as spoken through the legislature and (Governor Scott Walker)."

The ruling came down late Friday.

In it, Col s said the law violates both Wisconsin's and U.S. Constitutions and found in favor of the plaintiffs, including Madison Teachers, Inc.

Van Hollen says because Col s' ruling declared the law - as it applies to county, city and school district workers "null and void" - it does not exist. That is why he wishes to have the ruling stayed.

"(We don't know) what position they are in, with regards to labor negotiations. So we don't know off-hand, and how urgently it impacts, directly, these many numerous units of local government. That's something that, obviously we're going to learn more about as they start to speak up."

Col s' decision in favor of the plaintiffs does not impact state employees or those in the University of Wisconsin System.

Walker : The law will be upheld

At an event in Minneapolis over the weekend, Governor Walker fielded questions from the media regarding the Friday ruling.

Walker said if a stay isn't granted, and the ruling is eventually overturned, the result could be chaotic.

"It would be incredibly challenging for schools - right now in the middle of their school year, in the middle of a tax levy year - to have to make that sorts of changes,” explained Walker. “And it potentially would put a great number of employees - at the local level, in our school districts and local governments - at risk."

In total, there are now three pending lawsuits in regards to the Act 10 reforms.

"The law, just as it was last year, will be upheld," said Walker.

You may remember in May 2011, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled that Republican legislators violated Wisconsin's open meetings law, making the collective bargaining law void.

However in June of 2011, the Wisconsin Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, ruled that Sumi overstepped her authority when declaring the law void.

Green Bay labor attorney Jim Kalny says the legal battle surrounding the ruling could go on for months.

But its impact could be more immediate.

"Because the people it applies to in Dane County are Governor Scott Walker and the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, consequently, if there's orders that are binding on them, it probably will at least - would assume, would seem to have statewide impact," explained Kalny, an attorney with Davis-Kuelthau, who specializes in representing municipalities and school districts in labor matters.

The suit was brought forward by MTI (a Madison teachers union), one of its members, Laborers' International Union of North America Local 61 (a Milwaukee city employee labor union) and one of its members.

FOX 11 tried to contact the Milwaukee labor union.

The phone number listed appears to be disconnected and our emails were bounced back.

However, the teachers union is already demanding new contract negotiations with the Madison Public School District.

In other school districts across the state, they are taking a "wait-and-see" approach.

The executive director of the State Association of School District Administrators Miles Turner says his group has been getting questions from superintendents about what to do next.

The group has not taken a position on what to tell the confused superintendents.

For now, Turner says the group is putting together a panel discussion for Friday, the last day of its fall conference.

About 300 superintendents are scheduled to be in downtown Madison for the meeting.

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