What to know about Act 10 and the legal battle over the controversial law

With the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court election on April 1, the spotlight is on the big cases the court will hear in the coming months and years, involving issues ranging from abortion to voting rights.

One of those issues is likely to be the future of Act 10, a controversial law enacted in 2011 by Republican Gov. Scott Walker that stripped most public workers of their collective bargaining rights.

But what exactly does that mean? What has the impact of the law been, and what is its future?

Why was Act 10 created?

Walker introduced Act 10 in 2011 as what he said was a way to address a budget shortfall. There were immediate large-scale protests against the legislation, and Democratic legislators left the state in an attempt to block it by delaying a vote in the Senate, all of which held the national spotlight for weeks. The Senate passed the legislation eventually without the Democrats, and Walker signed it into law on March 11, 2011. It went into full effect that June.

What does Act 10 do, and what is collective bargaining?

The controversial law targeted public employees such as teachers, nurses, state government workers and prison guards. It made a number of changes to public employee benefits, such as requiring them to pay more for their health insurance and pensions.

Act 10 also restricted the power of most public unions to negotiate contracts with employers, known as collective bargaining. It limited bargaining to wages, but only up to the rate of inflation, stripping unions of the right to negotiate working conditions and benefits such as paid time off and health insurance. It also required unions to vote to recertify every year, meaning the members of the union must vote annually on whether they still want to be represented by a union.

The limitations placed on collective bargaining did not apply to all public unions, though. Unions of public safety workers such as police and firefighters were exempted from the law.

What has been the impact of Act 10?

Many opponents of the law say that in public schools, it has contributed to staffing shortages, low wages, and burnout due to classroom conditions.

Public unions in Wisconsin have also struggled to stay afloat since the passage of Act 10. According to a 2022 report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum, a nonpartisan research group, Wisconsin saw the largest drop in the number of unions over the last 20 years in the nation.

SEIU Healthcare Wisconsin, a union that represented nurses in Madison, was among those that disappeared after being phased out in 2014 by hospital administrators that said Act 10 prohibited them from continuing contracts with unions. That union reformed in 2019 and is now arguing in a lawsuit before the Wisconsin Supreme Court that it should be allowed to collectively bargain.

What is the future of Act 10?

It will take some time before the Wisconsin Supreme Court hears a case on Act 10.

A group of public unions filed a lawsuit in November 2023, arguing that Act 10 was unconstitutional. In December 2024, a Dane County judge ruled in favor of the unions, striking down several parts of the law for violating the state constitution’s equal protection clause by exempting public safety unions.

Republican leaders in the state legislature quickly appealed the ruling, and the unions requested that the case be fast-tracked to the Wisconsin Supreme Court. On Feb. 12, the court denied that request, though, meaning it will continue to move through the usual processes and go first to an appeals court for a ruling.

Some members of the Wisconsin Supreme Court have already been involved in legal wrangling over Act 10. Conservative Justice Brian Hagedorn announced in January that he would recuse himself from hearing the case once it reaches the court because he worked as chief legal counsel for Walker and defended Act 10 against previous legal challenges.

Liberal Justice Janet Protasiewicz refused to recuse herself from the case, however, after Republicans called for her to remove herself because she participated in protests against Act 10 in 2011 and signed a petition to recall Walker.

Ultimately, the future of Act 10 could depend on the outcome of the upcoming April Supreme Court race. Liberal Dane County Judge Susan Crawford and Republican former state Attorney General Brad Schimel are vying for the seat left open by retiring liberal Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. The outcome will determine the court’s political lean; liberals currently have a 4-3 majority.

Schimel has criticized the Dane County judge’s December 2024 ruling striking down parts of Act 10, while Crawford represented teachers unions in a past attempt to overturn the law. Both candidates have indicated that they wouldn’t recuse themselves from the case if elected to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.