Wisconsin union holding federal funds hostage
Governor Dayton’s Baleful Influence on Labor Relations
By Howard Fischer/EastValleyTribune.com
A federal judge will allow the National Labor Relations Board to pursue its bid to void an anti-union initiative approved last year by Arizona voters.
Judge Frederick Martone said the evidence presented so far shows that the measure illegally encroaches on the area of relations between labor and employers. And that, he said, interferes with the intent of Congress to have federal law be the “central procedural framework for resolving disputes.”
Martone’s ruling, released Thursday, does not void the state law. It suggests, though, the judge believes that Arizona cannot come up with its own laws on how unions can be formed.
But Clint Bolick, an attorney for the Goldwater Institute, which crafted the anti-union measure, said he still believes Martone can be convinced it is legal.
Bolick will get his chance: While Martone rejected the state’s bid to dismiss the NLRB lawsuit, he did give the Goldwater Institute permission to intervene in the case to defend the law.
