54. City of Madison Amicus Brief
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Transcript of 54. City of Madison Amicus Brief
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8/2/2019 54. City of Madison Amicus Brief
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTWESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
________________________________________________________________
LABORERS LOCAL 236, AFL-CIO, et al.
Plaintiffs,
v. Case No. 3:11-cv-00462-wmc
SCOTT WALKER, Governor of the Stateof Wisconsin, et al.
Defendants.
________________________________________________________________
BRIEF OF AMICUS CURIAEOPPOSING DEFENDANTS MOTION FORJUDGMENT ON THE PLEADINGS
________________________________________________________________
INTRODUCTION
Long before it was statutorily required to do so, the City of Madison (City)
established Collective Bargaining Committees to bargain with employees over
terms and conditions of employment.
1
Once public-sector collective bargaining
was established by statute in 1959, the City continued to successfully bargain
collectively with its employees, in both good and bad economic times. Thus,
whether through common sense or statutory obligation, the City has long used
collective bargaining as an effective tool to manage budgets, maintain a
productive and satisfied workforce, and provide essential services to its citizens.
For recent proof of this success, one need look no further than in the two years
1See Attachment A. Attachment A includes documentation of Common Council Proceedings
from 1951, 1952, and 1953, and a copy of a City Ordinance published in 1956. These documentsshow the existence of a Madison City Bargaining Committee and Madison Council of CityEmployees. These two entities bargained over terms and conditions of employment and thenforwarded proposed agreements to the City Council. Once adopted by the City Council, theagreements were reduced to a City Ordinance.
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following the significant economic downturn of 2008, when the City was able to
successfully negotiate with unions over wages and benefits and maintain all
essential services to its citizens.2
2011 Wisconsin Act 10 (Act 10), as modified by 2011 Wisconsin Act 32
(Act 32), destroys this distinguished and effective history of public-sector
collective bargaining in Wisconsin. Act 10 strips public employers of the ability to
collectively bargain with general public employees outside the strict confines of
Act 10; strips general public employees of most all collective bargaining rights;
yet maintains full and robust collective bargaining rights for public safety
employees. As a result, for the first time in Wisconsins history, public employers
are prohibited from collectively bargaining with some employees, required to
collectively bargain with others, and ultimately forced to discriminate between two
defined groups with regard to the terms and conditions of employment it
provides.
Defendants argue simply that the challenged provisions and classifications
of Act 10 are necessary for municipalities to continue operating in the face of
pending state funding cuts. (Defs. Br. In Supp. Of Mot. For J. on the Pleadings,
(dkt. #28) at 13). The City believes the analysis of this issue is not quite so
simple, and that the cumulative effect of the challenged provisions and
classifications will lead to lower employee morale, higher turnover, and more
common work stoppages among public employees. Thus, the City submits this
brief to provide the Court with the unique perspective of a municipal employer
2 See Dave Cieslewicz, A Return to Strife and Strikes, Former Mayor Dave Cieslewiczs Blog
(February 11, 2011, 4:17 pm), http://www.cityofmadison.com/cityhall/archivedBlog/?Id=456.
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faced with implementing the changes contained in Act 10, and to urge the Court
to closely scrutinize this legislation.
ARGUMENT
I. THE COURT SHOULD APPLY A HIGHTENED LEVEL OF SCRUTINYWHEN REVIEWING PLAINTIFFS CONSTITUTIONAL CLAIMS.
Act 10 prohibits municipalities from bargaining with general public
represented employees over any condition of employment except wages, and it
limits those wage negotiations to total base wage increases not to exceed the
Consumer Price Index (CPI). See2011 Wis. Act 10 at 210, 245, 262, 314.
Furthermore, Act 10 limits the term of any collectively bargained agreement with
general employees to one year, requires general employees to annually recertify
their union3, and prohibits employers from deducting union dues via automatic
funds transfer for general employees. See2011 Wis. Act 10 at 227, 242, 289,
298, 9132, 9155. See also(Defs. Br. (dkt. #28) at 4). However, Act 10 does not
impose these same conditions and restrictions on members of mandatory public
safety unions. See2011 Wis. Act 10 at 210, 262.
Plaintiffs Complaint alleges that these provisions violate the First
Amendment and Equal Protection Clauses of the Wisconsin Constitution and
merit strict scrutiny review. Defendants, of course, do not believe the law
implicates a fundamental constitutional right and, therefore, have urged this
Court to review the Plaintiffs constitutional challenges using the deferential
rational basis standard. (Defs. Br. (dkt. #28) at 6-10).
3This Court has already found the recertification and dues provisions of Act 10 unconstitutional in
Wisconsin Educational Assoc. Council, et. al v. Scott Walker, et. al, 3:11-cv-428, Doc. #107(March 30, 2012).
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In the Citys view, the cumulative effect of all of the prohibitions,
restrictions, and classifications in Act 10 can have only one result: Discouraging
general public employees from joining a union and discriminating against those
who choose to do so or who are not part of a public safety union. This is an
infringement of a general public employees freedom of association. Thus, the
City believes this Court should strictly scrutinize Act 10.
1. Act 10 Implicates Fundamental Constitutional Rights.
The First Amendment protects the right of individuals to associate with
like-minded persons to advance common goals. See Runyon v. McCrary, 427
U.S. 160 (1976). The United States Supreme Court has ruled that this protection
specifically extends to the right to unionize. See Thomas v. Collins, 323 U.S. 516
(1945). Interestingly, when the International Labor Organization (ILO) proposed
Conventions No. 87 and 98, concerning freedom of association and protection of
the right to organize, the United States chose not to ratify the conventions
because it believed the protections secured by them merely reiterated rights
already guaranteed by the First, Fifth, Tenth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the
U.S. Constitution.4
Nevertheless, the Defendants briefspends considerable time arguing that
collective bargaining in no way implicates a constitutional right. Specifically,
Defendants argue that while public employees in Wisconsin are free to associate,
speak, and advocate on behalf of themselves, the government is under no
constitutional obligation to listen to them or their union representatives. (Defs. Br.
4SeeCharles J. Morris, A Blueprint for Reform of the National Labor Relations Act, 8 Admin. L.J.
Am. U. 517, 524-525 (1994).
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(dkt. #28) at 2-3). In the Defendants words, collective bargaining is an act of
legislative grace, and there is nothing unconstitutional about providing collective
bargaining rights that are simply less robust than they once were. See id. On
this basic premise, the Defendants argue this Court must necessarily conclude
that the law deserves only a rational basis review.
What the Defendants analysis fails to acknowledge, however, is that
governments such as the State and City are public bodies and that First
Amendment protections are often triggered by the governments voluntary
actions, including those actions taken as an employer. See, e.g., Elrod v. Burns,
427 U.S. 347 (1976)(stating that while government has no duty to employ its
citizens, once it chooses to do so it cannot grant or deny such employment
because of a citizens affiliation with a particular political party); Perry v.
Sindermann, 408 U.S. 593 (1972)(stating that while state college has no duty to
provide unemployment benefits, it may not cut off such benefits on the basis of a
citizens exercise of her religious faith); Hannegan v. Esquire, Inc., 327 U.S. 146
(1946)(although government need not establish postal service, once it does, it
may not condition grant of mailing permit on promise that certain ideas not be
disseminated). Thus, once public employers afford public employees such a
right, privilege, or benefit in employment, the First Amendment necessarily
defines what limits, if any, the State may place on that right.
In this case, the Defendants acknowledge that the State chose to afford
certain collective bargaining rights to all public employees, including the right to
bargain over conditions of employment. Accordingly, the City believes it is
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insufficient for the State to assert that because collective bargaining is an act of
legislative grace, it commits no constitutional violation by discriminating against
members or prospective members of a particular bargaining unit. Arguing that
the State has no duty to listen misses the point, and the Defendants should not
be allowed to hide behind this ill-conceived distinction between rights and
duties.5 Indeed, once the government determines to provide for such bargaining,
it must do so in a manner that passes constitutional muster. Therefore, this court
should apply a heightened level of scrutiny.
2. Act 10 Penalizes Employees Who Choose to Exercise TheirFreedom of Association.
A law which significantly interferes with the exercise of a fundamental right
is subject to heightened scrutiny, and can be upheld only if it is supported by
sufficiently important state interests and is closely tailored to effectuate only
those interests. SeeZablocki v. Redhail, 434 U.S. 374, 388 (1978). Such a law
significantly interferes with a fundamental right if, considering the importance of
the benefit withheld or the penalty imposed to those subject to the classification,
it is likely to significantly burden the ability of those subject to the classification to
exercise that fundamental right. See, e.g., id. at 283-387; Lloyd v. Philadelphia,
1990 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8073 (E.D. Pa. 1990).
In Lloyd, the City of Philadelphia adopted an ordinance under which the
city provided certain health benefits only to those of its employees who joined
5Whenever there exists a right in any person, there also exists a correlative duty in some other
person or persons not to abridge or interfere with the exercise of that right. SeeHohfeld, SomeFundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning, 23 Yale L.J. 16 (1930); Seegenerally, Van Alstyne, The Demise of the Right-Privilege Distinction in Constitutional Law, 81Harv. L. Rev. 1439 (1968).
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AFSCME. See id. at 3-5. The city also adopted a regulation that provided
employees who joined AFSCME could be absent from work for a doctors
appointment without having those hours deducted from their accrued sick leave,
but did not afford that same privilege to employees who did not join AFSCME.
The plaintiff in Lloydrefused to join AFSCME. First as a probationary employee
and then as a permanent employee the plaintiff was forced to buy health
insurance at her own expense and deduct any amount of time spent at the
doctors office from her accrued sick leave. See id. at 7-8. The plaintiff
challenged the city ordinance and regulation on the basis that they violated the
First Amendment and the Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth
Amendment by interfering with her freedom to associate or, in her case, freedom
not to associate. See id. at 15-16.
The defendants in Lloydargued for a lower level of scrutiny, in part, on the
basis that heightened scrutiny is warranted only for classifications which directly
order, require or prevent association, not for those which merely are likely to
deter employees from declining to associate. See id. at 17-18. The Court
disagreed. The Court noted that if the defendants were correct, courts would
never need to discuss the likelihood of interference with freedom of association,
since only direct bars to, or compulsion of, association would be subject to
heightened scrutiny. See id. at 18. As it applied to the plaintiff in Lloyd, the
Court stated that there [was] no doubt that the availability of City -funded health
benefits would be important to City employees in deciding whether to join
AFSCME[and] that it would likely deter City employees who might otherwise
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decline to join AFSCME from so doing. See id. at 17. Accordingly, the Court
held that the ordinance and regulation infringed on the plaintiffs freedom of
association. See id. at 22-23.
In making its decision, the Lloydcourt relied on a United States Supreme
Court case which struck down an unconstitutional burden on the right to travel.
SeeMemorial Hospital v. Maricopa County, 415 U.S. 250 (1974). In that case,
Maricopa County established a one-year residency requirement as a condition of
receiving free, county-provided health care. Though the requirement did not
expressly prohibit interstate travel, the Court held that the compelling-state-
interest test would be triggered by 'any classification which serves to penalizethe
exercise of that right Id. at 258 (quoting Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618
(1969)(Emphasis in original)). The Court went on to explain, a State may not
protect the public fisc by drawing an invidious distinction between classes of its
citizens, so appellees must do more than show that denying free medical care to
new residents saves money. Id. at 263.
In this case, the Defendants similarly argue that nothing in Act 10 directly
bars public employees from joining a union and that therefore the legislation does
not impact an employees right to associate. Instead, they assert that the only
thing the law does is draw distinctions among public employees with regard to
which collective bargaining privileges are available to which public employees.
(Defs. Br. (Dkt. #28) at 7). As in Lloydand Maricopa, the Defendants argument
should fail. There can be no doubt that the provisions of the legislation which,
among other things, prohibits general employees who choose to join a union
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from receiving total base wage increase exceeding the CPI, requires workers to
annually recertify their union, and prohibits employers from deducting union dues
via automatic funds transfer, would be absolutely determinative to City
employees deciding whether to join a union. In the Citys experience, wages
and in particular wage increases are the most important condition of
employment to its employees. Any possible limit on what employees will be able
to earn is likely to deter them from joining a union.6 When one adds to that the
prohibition on bargaining over any other benefit and the requirement that they
recertify every year, it seems to the City a near certainty that the cumulative
effect of these restrictions are nothing more than a penalty for union
membership, and that they will almost certainly cause the majority of general
employees to refuse union membership.
For these reasons, the City submits that this Court must review Plaintiffs
constitutional challenges using a heightened level of scrutiny.
II. THE CHALLENGED CLASSIFICATION MUST SURVIVE HEIGHTENEDSCRUTINY, YET DEFENDANTS STATED RATIONALE CANNOTWITHSTAND A RATIONAL BASIS REVIEW.
Defendants have failed to make any argument regarding Act 10s ability to
survive a heightened level of scrutiny, perhaps assuming this Court will apply a
rational basis test. To succeed under the rational basis test, the Court must
determine that Act 10s purpose is reasonable, and whether the law rationally
advances that purpose. See Moran v. Beyer, 734 F.2d 1245, 1247 (7 th Cir.
6On March 26, 2012 the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (WERC) submitted to
the Governors office a set of draft emergency rules regarding the calculation of total base wages,which appear to the Amicusto create an even greater restriction on bargaining over wages thanwas originally contemplated by municipalities when Act 10 was passed. SeeAttachment B,Memorandum Accompanying Dissenting Vote of Commissioner Judith Neumann to the March 26,2012 Draft Proposed Emergency Rules Regarding Base Wages Calculation.
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1984). The City believes Defendants have failed to show that Act 10 rationally
advances a municipalitys ability to maintain budgets and avoid work stoppages
in tight economic times, and that the Defendants flimsy rationale exposes the
laws real purpose: to punish those who belong to unions and encourage them to
leave the union.
In their brief, Defendants explain Act 10s rationale here:
it is in the interest of the State to treat employeeswho perform public safety functions differently fromother public employees....The State has at its disposalknowledge of the services provided by each state and
municipal agency and the capacity to make adetermination as to the States ability or inability tooperate in the absence of certain of those servicesdue to a job action and/or strike by state andmunicipal employees.The existence of the publicsafety category indicates that the State may havedetermined there were insufficient resources availableto ensure the continuation of some critical services inthe event of a job action.
(Defs. Br. (Dkt. #28) at 14-15).
Defendants stated rationale appears to be that in order to make sure
municipal agencies maintain the abilityto operate, it is necessary for the State
to give public safety employees ordinary certification procedures and extensive
bargaining rights, but to deny those same rights to general public employees
choosing to join voluntary unions.
The Defendants support their rationale by referring vaguely to having
knowledge of services provided by each municipal agency and the capacity to
make a determination as to what services are necessary for each municipal
agency to operate. Yet Defendants offer reference to no concrete data,
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correspondence, or authority substantiating where this knowledge comes or
whether it is even accurate to begin with.
While no one disputes the importance of police and firefighters, it is simply
not true that a Citys ability or inability to operate rests solely on the shoulders
of these workers. Indeed, many departments are necessary for a city to operate
in anything other than a police state. Garbage collection services ensure our city
streets, neighborhoods, and homes do not smell and present public health
threats. Snowplow services ensure that our streets are passable in the winter.
Water utility services ensure that the water we drink is clean. Transit services
ensure that thousands without other transportation can get to work and school on
time. While police and firefighters are crucial to maintaining public safety and
responding to emergencies, the other services, performed by general public
employees, are also critical to a citys overall ability or inability to operate in
tight economic times.
Furthermore, Defendants assertion that the classification and restrictions
contained in Act 10 are necessary to balance the budget in the face of state
funding cuts is also nonsense. The time and effort to negotiate and reach
individual agreements with all general public employees would be not only be
vastly more expensive for the City, but there is no reason to think it will save
money. For example, if the City has x dollars that it can spend on salary
increases, it cannot go above x dollars whether it negotiates with a group or
individually. It simply becomes an administrative nightmare and exponentially
more expensive for the City to engage in individual negotiations.
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Defendants apparently labor under a totally inaccurate understanding of
budgeting by public bodies. In preparing a budget and engaging in bargaining
over wages or benefits of any kind, the City has determined what amounts might
be available for salary increases or benefits. That amount is limited by political
factors and legal limitations such as the levy limit. But once that limit is known, it
is a limit that applies regardless of whether the City is negotiating with
represented employees or assigning increases to non-represented employees.
The invitation to discriminate set out in Act 10 does not provide the City with an
effective tool in the overall effort to manage a budget.
Thus, the City believes that the Defendants stated rationale would not
only fail strict scrutiny review, but that it also fails to provide rationally advance
the purpose of ensuring municipalities can maintain budgets and avoid work
stoppages.
III. PUBLIC EMPLOYERS ARE IN A BETTER POSITION TO MANAGEBUDGETS, MAINTAIN WORKFORCES, AND PROVIDE ESSENTIALSERVICES WHEN THEY ARE ALLOWED TO COLLECTIVELYBARGAIN OVER A WIDE VARIETY OF WORK CONDITIONS.
The State of Wisconsin has long recognized the importance of collective
bargaining rights. In 1959, Wisconsin became the first state to enact a collective
bargaining act for public employees. This law and its subsequent amendments,
including Municipal Employee Relations Act, Wis. Stat. 111.70 et seq.,
established a system of collective bargaining that ensured labor peace by,
among other things, requiring State and local governments to negotiate in good
faith with public employees and preventing public employees from striking. In the
more than four decades that the Citys employees have enjoyed the statutory
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right to collectively bargain, the Citys residents, employees and managers have
enjoyed labor peace and successfully managed budgets.
Act 10 prohibits municipalities from engage in collective bargaining with
general public employees outside the very strict confines of the law. See Wis.
Stat. 66.0508(1)(2011). So, in the name of giving municipalities a tool to
manage tight budgets and avoid work stoppages, Act 10 actually strips
municipalities of the primary tool used for decades to craft tight budgets and
maintain positive relations with their employees. Thus, while the stated intended
effect of Act 10 is to give municipalities more flexibility to manage budgets and
avoid work stoppages, the City believes the opposite will ultimately be true.
The City has a workforce of more than 3,000 public employees, over two-
thirds of whom were members of unions when Act 10 was passed. Within
individual departments one can find both union and non-union employees at
nearly every level of responsibility. Negotiating with each unrepresented
employee individually would be an incredibly time-consuming process, if not
impossible. When the City negotiates with bargaining units, the units themselves
take on a portion of the leg work. The City need only negotiate with
representatives of each unit, and the representatives are then responsible for
contacting the individual members. In fact, it has been the Citys experience that
negotiating with strong unions as opposed to weak unions or no union at all is
the most efficient, effective, and easy way to craft tight budgets. This is because
strong unions have the trust and ear of their union representatives and these
representatives are usually the most able to take a proposed agreement to their
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members and get it approved. In the Citys experience, if problems arise in
collective bargaining, it is usually when the City bargains with a weak union
whose representatives cannot achieve a consensus from its members.
Nevertheless, Defendant urge that this legislation, which weakens unions, will be
the key to managing budgets. It will not.
Additionally, the City has never been forced to treat employees differently
because of their union-membership status, yet this law will force the City to
discriminate between represented and unrepresented general employees and
between all general employees and public safety employees. Discriminating
against its employees in such a way could threaten the Citys relationship with its
employees and thus undermine its ability to operate and provide consistent
services to its citizens. It is well known that employees in both the private and
public sector wish to have a voice in their workplace lives. Giving employees a
voice results in more productive and invested workers. Taking away that voice
results in a dissatisfied workforce.7 And a dissatisfied workforce is one more
likely to engage in work stoppages.
Act 10 creates a workforce where public safety employees have a strong
voice, unrepresented general employees have a weak voice, and represented
general employees have virtually no voice at all. The type of discrimination
required by Act 10 is likely to create strife among employees and decrease
employee morale and productivity and make it more difficult for municipal
7SeeKenneth G. Dau-Schmidt, Promoting Employee Voice in the American Economy: A Call for
Comprehensive Reform, 94 Marq. L. Rev. 765, 791-809 (2011).
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employers to manage budgets, supposedly the very thing the Defendants law is
trying to avoid.
CONCLUSION
The City asks the court to carefully scrutinize the constitutionality of this
Act. Act 10 discriminates between unionized and nonunionized employees and
public safety and non public safety employees, with no rational basis for the
distinction much less a compelling state interest as would be required for this
imposition on First Amendment rights of association. The only rationale for the
law is its intended rationale: to punish those who belong to unions and
encourage them to leave the union.
This Court should see Act 10 for what it is: a blatant discrimination against
unionized employees. Try as they might, Defendants have offered the Court no
lawful rationale for this discrimination.
Dated this 2nd day of May, 2012.
CITY OF MADISON
___________/s/________________Michael P. May, State Bar No. 1011610City AttorneyEmail: [email protected] W. Strange, State Bar No. 1068817Assistant City AttorneyEmail: [email protected]
Office of the City AttorneyRoom 401, City-County Building210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.Madison, Wisconsin 53703Phone: (608) 266-4511; Fax: (608) 267-8715Counsel for Non-Party Amicus
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