(WORT)–A Dane County judge has struck down Wisconsin’s so-called “right-to-work” law.
That legislation, passed in March of 2015, prevents businesses and unions from making agreements that require private sector workers to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment.
Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said he was “extremely disappointed” by the ruling issued Friday by Dane County Circuit Court Judge William Foust. But Schimel said he’s confident that the right-to-work law would be upheld on appeal. Schimel is responsible for defending the law in court.
Unions and labor advocates bitterly oppose right-to-work legislation, arguing that it allows workers who don’t pay union dues to reap the benefits won in a workplace through collective bargaining.
Darien Lamen reports on the legal basis for Friday’s ruling, and on the polarized response it has prompted.
