Posts tagged Wisconsin
Trump administration ends union dues collection for most feds without notice
April 10, 2025 // An official at another federal employee union familiar with the matter told Government Executive that local unions at agencies serviced by the Interior Department’s Interior Business Center and the Agriculture Department’s National Finance Center, both of which provide payroll services to large swathes of the federal government, took similar action this week, all without notifying the unions or customer agencies. And, in at least one case, the National Finance Center deducted union dues from employees’ paychecks and then failed to pass that money along to the union, requiring them to then refund those dues back to the employees. None of the three payroll providers responded immediately to a request for comment Wednesday. The cancellation comes amid news, first reported in The New York Times, that operatives from Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Governmental Efficiency had gained access to the Interior Department’s Federal Personnel and Payroll System, which underpins the IBC’s work.
About 90 UAW members are on strike in Oshkosh
March 21, 2025 // Compton said the biggest sticking points in the negotiations have centered around temporary workers and mandatory overtime on Saturdays. He said the plant does not currently employ temp workers, and the union would like to keep it that way. That’s because they want workers to be hired on by Cummins full-time, Compton said. Under the previous agreement, Compton said the workers are required to work up to 18 Saturdays each year or up to six Saturdays each quarter until they hit 18. He said the UAW is fighting to keep the cap on the number of Saturdays workers will be required to come into the plant.
New report puts Act 10 savings at nearly $36B
March 19, 2025 // "Those savings don’t just exist on paper. They have a real impact in the real world," MacIver CEO Annette Olson said. "Thanks to Act 10, today Wisconsin is considered to be one of the most financially responsible states in the country with routine budget surpluses, a robust rainy-day fund, and a fully funded state pension system.” To get to its $35.6 billion savings price tag, MacIver added the $13.8 billion in employee pension contributions since 2012 under Act-10, and the $21.8 billion in total health care savings since 2012 from Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, the DPI and the State Health Insurance Program.
Act 10, Scourge of Wisconsin Teachers, Faces Uncertain Future in Court
March 4, 2025 // According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the proportion of union members in Wisconsin’s workforce fell by nearly half, from 14.2% to 7.4%, between 2010 and 2023 (since that figure includes workers from all sectors, the drop for government employees is likely much steeper). A report from the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a right-leaning think tank, showed that the total number of unions holding annual recertification votes across the state declined from 540 in 2014 to 369 in 2018. The largest teachers’ union in the state, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, experienced a dizzying loss of manpower and organizing heft. A 2019 study conducted by a pair of researchers at the University of Wisconsin found that WEAC was forced to restructure and cut its staffing by about two-thirds. The retrenchment was made necessary by a freefall in the collection of dues, the payment of which was made voluntary by Act 10. The loss of paid organizers could be offset, in part, by the efforts of teacher volunteers. But the union had no ready replacement for the millions of dollars in government relations funds that had suddenly evaporated; WEAC went from being one of the biggest lobbying forces in Madison to a second-tier player virtually overnight.
UW Health nurses argue for right to formally unionize
February 19, 2025 // The court urged the SEIU to consider the Act’s statutory history, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Act 10 reduced funding for Health Services in response to a projected $3 billion budget deficit in 2011, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Council. The Wisconsin Employment Peace Act still grants UW Health employees the right to self-organize, join and work with labor organizations and bargain collectively, SEIU attorneys told the Wisconsin State Journal.
Bus Driver Asks National Labor Relations Board to Overturn “Merger Doctrine” Used by Union Bosses to Block Worker-Requested Votes
February 19, 2025 // Because employees are suddenly part of a much larger and frequently geographically-dispersed “bargaining unit” with workers they have never met and likely don’t even know the names of, once “merged” it becomes effectively impossible for employees to ever reach the 30% threshold of signatures needed to trigger decertificiation or deauthorization elections
Wisconsin Supreme Court won’t hear case seeking to overturn 2011 anti-union law for now
February 18, 2025 // Dane County Circuit Judge Jacob Frost in December ruled that the law violates equal protection guarantees in the Wisconsin Constitution by dividing public employees into “general” and “public safety” employees. Under the ruling, all public sector workers who lost their collective bargaining power would have it restored to what was in place before 2011. The judge put the ruling on hold pending the appeal.
Wisconsin Supreme Court hears lawsuit from UW Health nurses seeking to unionize
February 17, 2025 // The nurses argue that UW Health, which is governed by a public authority but otherwise operates similarly to a private health system, is required to recognize their union under the Wisconsin Employment Peace Act, which governs private sector labor negotiations. However, Act 10 explicitly removed references to UW Health from the Peace Act. A ruling in favor of the nurses would allow them to move forward with unionizing and chip away at the restrictions of Act 10.
Streetcar Workers Unionize
February 11, 2025 // The City of Milwaukee’s street car system, called The Hop, is operated by TransDev, a French multinational transportation company. In November, a majority of 26 TransDev employees working out of the city’s streetcar facility at 450 N. 5th St. voted in favor of representation by ATU Local 998, according to National Labor Relations Board records. The union includes operators, maintenance workers, road supervisors, operator supervisors and dispatchers.
Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice steps aside in pivotal union rights case
January 31, 2025 // A conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice said Thursday he will not participate in a pending case that will determine whether tens of thousands of public sector workers regain collective bargaining rights that were taken away by a 2011 law. Justice Brian Hagedorn drafted the law, known as Act 10, when he was chief legal counsel for then-Gov. Scott Walker. His decision to recuse himself from the case leaves the court with four liberal justices and two conservatives.