This Day in Labor History

Just as a County Circuit Judge struck down Wisconsin's controversial collective bargaining law today, the Maine state legislature has revised a "right to work" bill.

From Wisconsin:

Ruling that Republicans in the State Senate had violated the state’s open meetings law, a judge in Wisconsin dealt a blow to them and to Gov. Scott Walker on Thursday by granting a permanent injunction striking down a new law curbing collective bargaining rights for many state and local employees.

Judge Maryann Sumi of Dane County Circuit Court said the Senate vote on March 9, coming after 13 Democratic state senators had fled the state, failed to comply with an open meetings law requiring at least two hours notice to the public.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in the case on June 6 , and Republican lawmakers are hoping that the court overturns Judge Sumi’s ruling and reinstates the law.

From Maine, thanks to Rachel Maddow:

In Maine, the state legislature has revised a bill that would make membership in a public-employees union optional. They call it "right to work," and there's no finer way to siphon power from unions and drive wages down -- that's why business interests want these laws and union workers hate them. Indiana Republicans gave up on a "right to work" bill this year rather than pick this particular fight.

But in Maine, a "right to work" bill has just come back around on the fast track, the Lewiston Sun-Journal reports. Governor LePage has been negotiating with school and other state workers -- weakening their unions now would help him. "It's the continuation of the anti-worker sentiment of this governor, from the labor mural to child labor laws," Chris Quint of the Maine State Employees Union tells the paper. "We're going to fight this thing every step of the way."

 Let's hope that as Maine goes, does-not-go-the-nation.