Judge Gives New Hope for Unions at Wisconsin Tech Colleges

A state judge in Wisconsin on Friday struck down many portions of a controversial state law that stripped most collective bargaining rights from public employees, The New York Times reported. Specifically, the ruling invalidates provisions of the law that limit collective bargaining rights of county, school and city employees, but not for state employees. For higher education faculty and other unionized employees, this probably means that collective bargaining could resume at locally run technical colleges, but not for the University of Wisconsin System. State officials plan to appeal the ruling, so the fate of unions in public higher education in Wisconsin is far from settled by the latest ruling.