Wisconsin Law Limiting Collective Bargaining Upheld in Latest Legal Round

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Republican Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin, speaks while fellow Republican Mary Fallin, governor of Oklahoma, listens during a press conference after meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012. Negotiations over the so-called fiscal cliff are stalled as President Obama and Republicans trade offers on ways to avoid more than $600 billion in U.S. spending cuts and tax increases for 2013 that will start to take effect in January if Congress doesn't act. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg *** Local Caption *** Scott Walker; Mary Fallin

CHICAGO - A federal appeals court April 18 upheld Wisconsin's law limiting collective bargaining rights.

A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the decision issued last September by a federal judge that Act 10 does not violate state employees' constitutional rights to freedom of speech and equal protection.

The panel found the law "does not proscribe any conduct by the unions themselves. It does not prohibit the unions from forming. It does not forbid them from meeting. Nor does it prevent the unions from advocating on behalf of their members in any way they see fit."

Several unions challenged the constitutionality of the law which was passed in 2011. The unions have not said whether they intend to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A separate challenge to the law remains ongoing at the state court level and will be decided by the state Supreme Court. Gov. Scott Walker's introduction of the law as part of a budget balancing package sparked massive protests and Democratic senators attempted to temporarily block passage by fleeing the state.

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