By Patricia Bogumil
The on-again off-again need for Wisconsin teachers to recertify their union representation is back on.
On Nov. 21, the Wisconsin Supreme Court lifted a contempt order imposed Oct. 21 by Dane County Circuit Court Judge Juan Colas.
His ruling had stopped the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission from enforcing parts of Wisconsin Act 10 that require teacher unions to hold annual recertification elections in order to keep representing their members for collective bargaining.
The state Supreme Court did not stay an earlier decision Colas made in September 2012 in which he found key parts of the 2011 state law limiting collective bargaining rights for most public workers to be unconstitutional, according to the Wisconsin State Journal.
The Supreme Court’s unsigned 5-2 ruling in the recertification matter said that because the case is under appeal, Colas could not issue a contempt order, the Journal explained.
As a result of the Nov. 21 Court ruling, recertifications originally planned to start Nov. 1 will now started Friday, Nov. 29 and will run to Thursday, Dec. 19.
The Southern Lakes United Educators (SLUE) union currently serves nearly 3,000 members in local bargaining units in Racine, Kenosha and Walworth counties.
These include education associations for Burlington; Waterford and Union Grove-area elementary and high school teachers; Washington-Caldwell, Drought and North Cape districts, as well as units for Western Racine County Special Education aides and support staff in several districts.
Dennis Eisenberg, a director with SLUE, represents 48 local bargaining units of teachers and support staff.
He said 46 of those 48 locals had already paid the fee required to go through a recertification election, before the process was halted by the now-lifted Dane County order.
Those recertifications will now go forward for the 46 local units.
Two small custodial units – one at Waterford High School and another in Twin Lakes – chose not to pay the fee for a recertification election, Eisenberg said.
Act 10 background
Act 10 is Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011 budget reform bill that eliminated most collective bargaining for public employees. Proponents say it has saved the state billions of dollars.
Under Act 10, unions must recertify annually with a yes vote from more than 50 percent of the employees they represent.
Eisenberg explained that if a union fails recertification, it would still exist but would no longer be the bargaining agent for the employees it represents.
“It means you won’t have a right to collectively determine your wages if you don’t go through the election process, or if you lose,” he explained. There is a one-year waiting period for that to take effect, he added.
Under Act 10, public employees can only bargain base wages tied to the consumer price index. The Act has faced legal challenges from employees’ unions since its inception. The Supreme Court has upheld Act 10 in other cases on different issues.
Currently, the Court is considering the full matter of whether Act 10 is constitutional under state law – a decision likely to be handed down by next summer, Eisenberg said.
“We’re hopeful that the Court views our conclusions that we’re (unfairly) treated differently from other public employees, like police and firefighters, and from private sector employees who have the right to bargain,” Eisenberg said.
– Staff writer Vicky Wedig contributed to this story.
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