Wisconsin’s new law, which strips nearly all collective bargaining rights from most state employees, was struck down Thursday by a circuit court judge, but the ruling will not be the final say in the union fight that broke out earlier this year.
Wisconsin’s Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments on June 6 to decide if they will take the case.
Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi voided the law since Republican legislators gave the public too short of a notice before passing the measure in early March, according to a report from The Associated Press.
Nevertheless, the state’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker and GOP legislators, who maintain that they have legally passed the bill, said that they will pass it again in the if necessary to have it take effect when Walker’s two-year budget begins on July 1.
Walker said his “budget-repair bill” was done to close the state’s $137 million budget shortfall by requiring most public workers—except for police and firefighters—to cover more of their health care premiums and retirement plans.
The law, which sharply curbs the collective bargaining rights of most public workers, as they are part of unions, incited strong opposition from Democrats and labor unions and drew the largest Demonstrations in Wisconsin since the Vietnam War.
Democrats argue that the bill is no more than an attempt to suppress labor unions.
Similar union battles are being fought in other state legislatures in the Midwest.
