http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/03/14/us/AP-US-Wisconsin-Budget-Unions.html?_r=1&ref=usBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 14, 2011 at 9:40 PM ET
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — School boards and local governments across Wisconsin are rushing to reach agreements with unions before a new law takes effect and erases their ability to collectively bargain over nearly all issues other than minimal salary increases.
The law doesn't go into effect until the day after Secretary of State Doug La Follette publishes it and it doesn't supersede contracts already in place, fueling unions' desire to reach new deals quickly. La Follette said Monday that he will delay publication until the latest day possible, March 25, to give local governments time to try to reach agreements.
Republican Gov. Scott Walker had asked La Follette to publish the law Monday, but the Democratic secretary of state said he didn't see any emergency that warranted doing so. La Follette opposed the bill and said he sat in his office watching parts of a weekend protest that brought as many as 100,000 people out in opposition to the law.
"This is the biggest change in Wisconsin labor management history in 50 years," La Follette said, describing his reasoning for holding off on its enactment.
The law ends collective bargaining for public workers over everything except salary increases no greater than inflation. It also forces state workers to make benefit concessions that amount to an 8 percent pay cut on average.
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