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Today, the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (“WILL”) filed a lawsuit against the Milwaukee Area Technical College for participating in illegal collective bargaining and approving a labor agreement that violates Act 10. The lawsuit was filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court.
Rick Esenberg, President and General Counsel of WILL commented, “We sent a letter to MATC warning them of the risk they were taking by negotiating with the union. They chose to ignore us, the law, and, most importantly, their taxpayers. We are asking for the court to declare the new labor agreement to be unlawful and invalid.”
On February 26, 2013, the MATC Board voted in favor of approving a new labor agreement, even though the current one does not expire until February 2014. This labor agreement was the product of collective bargaining with AFT-Local 212, the employees’ union, and includes terms and conditions that are prohibited by Act 10.
Victoria Marone, the plaintiff, has been teaching English as a Second Language at MATC since 1984. She is denied the ability to negotiate the terms and conditions of her employment independently with MATC as a result of the new contract. Explained Ms. Marone, “Neither MATC nor Local 212 ever asked for my input. I’m appalled that my union would flout the law and negotiate an illegal contract.”
“We hope that other units of local government will follow the law. If they continue to act as if Act 10 is not the law, they may find themselves in court,” said CJ Szafir, WILL Education Policy Director.
A copy of the complaint is here.[/vc_column_text][mk_fancy_title tag_name=”h2″ style=”false” color=”#153955″ size=”26″ font_weight=”normal” font_style=”normal” txt_transform=”none” letter_spacing=”1″ margin_top=”0″ margin_bottom=”18″ font_family=”none” font_type=”” align=”left” animation=”” el_class=””]Case Documents[/mk_fancy_title][prettyfilelist type=”pdf” tags=”marone-v-matc” tag=”streetcar-challenge”][/vc_column][/vc_row]