Does the Budget Repair Bill Circumscribe Teacher's Bargaining all that Much?

The question addressed today is whether the Budget Repair Bill rules out collective bargaining for all teacher unions, or only those at the statewide level?  Are there still some possibilities for local (district) protections, or not?

The Budget Repair Bill prohibits collective bargaining over anything other than wages, by all municipal employees other than police and firefighters.  The fact that the Walker administration has postured the Budget Repair Bill as a means of resolving a state budget deficit has confused many about the extent of the bill's restrictions on collective bargaining.  Wisconsin has a very comprehensive law known as the Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA).  MERA governs labor relations for all municipal employees.  There are some sections of MERA that govern specific classes of employees (such as state employees, teachers, or police and firefighters) and other sections that govern public employees generally. Under MERA, a municipal employer includes "any city, county, village, town, metropolitan sewerage district, [or] school district".

The Budget Repair Bill repeals many sections of MERA and amends many others.  One of the amendments creates a class of "general municipal employees" that includes all teachers employed by public school districts.  Another amendment restricts "general municipal employees'" right to bargain to wages.  The most significant amendment is fairly straightforward:

111.70 (4) (mb) of the statutes is created to read:

111.70 (4) (mb) Prohibited subjects of bargaining; general municipal employees.

The municipal employer is prohibited from bargaining collectively with a collective

bargaining unit containing a general municipal employee with respect to any of the

following:

1. Any factor or condition of employment except wages, which includes only

total base wages and excludes any other compensation, which includes, but is not

limited to, overtime, premium pay, merit pay, performance pay, supplemental

compensation, pay schedules, and automatic pay progressions.

There have been questions about the viability of settled contract following the adoption of the Budget Repair Bill.  The law prohibits bargaining, not the resulting contracts.  Thus contracts that are settled before the law goes into effect are enforceable, and teachers and school districts can rely on the protections in their contracts for the time being.  The following aspects of the Budget Repair Bill call into question, however, the long-term viability of those contracts:
1) The Bill's prohibition of contracts longer than one year
2) The Bill's requirement that a bargaining unit vote annually on union representation; If teachers in a district voted out their union, the contracts would no longer be enforceable.

The preceding post is not legal advice and should not be construed as such.  The information is general commentary on a matter of public interest, and the statements therein should not be relied upon by individuals for the purpose of any legal matter or proceeding.  Any person desiring legal advice on these or any other matters should retain an attorney.