Earlier this week, corrections officers represented by the Wisconsin Association for Correctional Law Enforcement (WACLE) filed a lawsuit against the State of Wisconsin alleging they are owed millions of dollars in back pay. As the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has reported, the corrections officers were forced to file a lawsuit because the changes to collective bargaining as a result of Act 10 means they cannot use the collective bargaining process to resolve the dispute.
The lawsuit, first reported by the Wisconsin State Journal, is being funded by the Wisconsin Association for Correctional Law Enforcement, a newly formed union that recently broke away from a large unit of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
The lawsuit noted that the wage dispute cannot be resolved using collective bargaining because of a law restricting union negotiations. Under that law, known as Act 10, the correctional officers union can bargain for raises — up to the rate of inflation — but nothing else.
No doubt this lawsuit is going to end up costing taxpayers far more money than if the state could resolve the dispute through the use of collective bargaining, but I guess that’s just an inconvenient truth for all those “fiscally responsible” Republicans.
Zach, thanks. I had not seen that angle.