Act 10 ruling could increase stakes of Wisconsin Supreme Court election

A Wisconsin Circuit Court’s ruling involving public sector bargaining rights has intensified the stakes for the state’s Supreme Court election in 2025. The judge ruled Act 10 is unconstitutional because it treats different groups of public employees unequally. The controversial 13-year-old law strictly limits public sector bargaining rights in Wisconsin. Michael Childers is a professor of labor education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He said the law also took the state back more than fifty years, as Wisconsin was a pioneer in the fight for workers’ legal rights. “It was the first state in the nation that formerly allowed for public sector bargaining,” said Childers, “and then became the first to basically greatly curtail bargaining rights for all but police and fire in the state.”