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MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin judge for the second time
directed the state to put on hold an explosive law that strips most
public workers of nearly all their union bargaining rights,
ordering officials on Tuesday to follow her original instructions
to stand down.


      "Apparently that language was either misunderstood or ignored,
but what I said was the further implementation of (the law) was
enjoined," said a visibly annoyed Dane County Circuit Judge
Maryann Sumi. "That is what I now want to make crystal clear."


      Earlier this month, Sumi issued an emergency injunction
prohibiting the Wisconsin secretary of state from formally
publishing the law -- the final step before it could take effect.


      Republican legislative leaders responded by directing the law be
published by another state agency, and then declared it valid.
State officials began implementing the law this weekend, stopping
the collection of union dues for state workers and taking more from
their pay for health care and retirement.
      

Sumi said Tuesday that action violated her original order, and
she made it clear after a daylong hearing that the law was on hold
while she considers a broader challenge to its legality.

      The back and forth furthered the often angry debate between new
Gov. Scott Walker, his Republican allies in the Legislature and the
state's public sector unions.


      Walker and the GOP have aggressively pushed forward their effort
to remove the bargaining rights of state workers, using a surprise
parliamentary maneuver to break a weeks-long stalemate to get it
passed and then finding another route to publish the law after
Sumi's order blocked the secretary of state from doing so.

      State Department of Justice spokesman Steve Means said the
agency continues to believe the law was properly published and is
in effect. Walker's spokesman, Cullen Werwie, didn't immediately
return a message seeking comment.


      Wisconsin Department of Administration Secretary Mike Huebsch,
Walker's top aide, issued a statement saying the agency will
evaluate the judge's order.


      "We will continue to confer with our legal counsel and have
more information about how to move forward in the near future,"
Huebsch said.


      The law requires most public workers to contribute more to their
pensions and health insurance. It also strips away their rights to
collectively bargain for anything except wages.

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Politics and Government News

A Wisconsin judge for the second time
directed the state to put on hold an explosive law that strips most
public workers of nearly all their union bargaining rights,
ordering officials on Tuesday to follow her original instructions
to stand down.

Wis. judge makes her order to halt anti-union law 'crystal clear'

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