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Friday, March 29, 2024

Wis. workers ask court to affirm intervenor status

MADISON, Wis. (Legal Newsline) -- Three Wisconsin public employees have asked a federal appeals court to grant them intervenor status in a lawsuit to declare Wisconsin's "Act 10" public union reform law unconstitutional.

The workers were denied this in district court. They also appealed the district court's declaration that some provisions of the law were invalid.

The appeal was filed in the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit by Pleasant Prairie teacher Kristi Lacroix, Waukesha high school teacher Nathan Berish and Department of Employee Trust Funds trust fund specialist Ricardo Cruz. All three filed an earlier brief with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin requesting intervenor status.

According to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, which along with the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty is providing free legal assistance, the workers compared the services they receive from their unions to those of "some itinerant street window washers who sling dirty water on your car windshield, smear it around, and then demand payment."

After the workers filed their appeal, the federal district court stayed its injunction against Act 10's annual recertification requirement. The 417 Wisconsin government unions will remain decertified during the appeal process.

"These three courageous workers carry on the fight to uphold workplace freedom for all of Wisconsin's civil servants who want nothing to do with union bosses' so-called 'representation'," said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. "With the help of the National Right to Work Foundation, these workers are resisting Big Labor's all-out assault to restore its forced-dues privileges over Wisconsin's public workers."

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