Judge Enjoins Publication|of Anti-Union Bill

MADISON, Wisc. (CN) - A state judge granted the Dane County district attorney's request for a restraining order to prohibit the state from publishing its law stripping public employees of their right to collective bargaining. The first injunction hearing is set for March 29.

Dane County is home to Madison, the state capital. District Attorney Ismael Ozanne sued on behalf of three elected officials and a union leader, who said Republican legislators ran an end-around of the state's Open Meetings Law to pass the anti-union measure, Special Session Assembly Bill 11.

Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, signed the bill into law on March 11.

The complainants said the Republican legislators rushed the bill through without required notice.

After Democrats in the House fled the state to deny the Republicans a quorum, Republicans called a meeting of a conference committee and revised AB 11 so it no longer required a quorum, then pushed the bill through both houses.

Dane County Circuit Court Judge Maryann Sumi issued the restraining order Friday with virtually no written comment.

The bill must be published before it can take effect. It prohibits public employees from engaging in collecting bargaining for anything except wages, and imposes other rules, such as requiring workers to vote every year to recertify the union that represents them.

There will be two injunction hearings on March 29 and April 1, and a hearing over the constitutionality of the bill is scheduled for April 12.

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