(The International Brotherhood of Teamsters issued the following on May 26, 2011.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today applauded Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi for striking down Wisconsin’s anti-worker law.
Judge Sumi ruled that Republican lawmakers violated state law when they failed to give two hours’ notice for a conference committee meeting. In that meeting, Republicans approved a bill that stripped government workers of their collective bargaining rights. That bill was rushed through the Legislature at the height of the Statehouse protests in Madison.
“Judge Sumi stopped an illegal power grab and a shameful attack on Wisconsin’s workers’ rights,” Hoffa said. “The only way these lawmakers could pass Gov. Scott Walker’s extreme agenda was to use dirty tricks. They didn’t dare use an open, honest process to attack Wisconsin’s teachers, nurses, snowplow drivers, police officers and students.”
The state Supreme Court will decide on June 6 whether to take up the issue. The measure taking away government workers’ collective bargaining rights is also included in the Wisconsin budget bill.
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents more than 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information.