The state Department of Justice requested Friday that the state Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals temporarily stop proceedings in two different Dane County Circuit Court orders to ensure school districts collective bargaining agent certification elections, according to a press release from Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen.
Both of the orders arose from a challenge to Act 10, which is Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial legislation that limited many state workers’ collective bargaining rights.
Agent certification elections allow employees within a collective bargaining unit to choose annually whether they want a collective bargaining agent to represent them and if so, who it should be.
If either of the motions is granted by Oct. 29, agent certification elections would occur as scheduled Nov. 1, according to the release.
The elections could still occur this year if either of the motions is granted by Nov. 4, according to the release.
“Act 10 is, in all respects, constitutional,” Van Hollen said in the release, but the Circuit Court issued an order that “dramatically alters the status quo” because it ruled before the state Supreme Court heard final arguments in the Act 10 challenge.
