Wisconsin Right Now

In March, Michigan repealed its right to work law through the new majority Democratic legislature. The right to work law could be the next issue headed for voters and perhaps the Wisconsin Constitution. The Institute for Reforming Government is working on a constitutional amendment that would ensure Gov. Tony Evers or the new liberal-majority Supreme Court could not roll back the state’s 2015 law that stopped unions from requiring membership. “Lawmakers need to enshrine worker freedom in the state constitution,” Chris Reader, executive vice president of the group, told The Center Square. "To not act could allow union bosses to once again force workers to join unions and pay fees and dues against their will if their lawsuit is successful Wisconsin became the 25th state in the nation to ban mandatory union membership when former Gov. Scott Walker signed the law. But it has remained unpopular with Democrats and labor unions. There has been a resurgence in talk about po...

Right to Work supporters aren't worried about its future in Wisconsin, yet. Workers at Spartek in Sparta recently removed their union, the United Electrical Workers Local 1161, after a three-year wait according to National Right to Work Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens. “To begin with, Spartek employee Carl Berg and his coworkers were trapped under a union-imposed ‘contract bar’ for roughly three years, during which they weren’t allowed to decertify the union. When Berg was finally able to submit the petition asking the NLRB for a decertification vote, it already contained signatures from the majority of his colleagues,” Semmens said. “That’s likely why the UE union disclaimed interest before a vote could even be scheduled: Union officials saw the support for the decertification vote and decided to disclaim interest in the unit as opposed to facing an embarrassing loss at the ballot box.” Wisconsin lawmakers approved Right to Work in 2015, though it's never bee...