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County Threats against Businesses Ruled Violation of National Labor Relations Act
MILWAUKEE — The Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC) today won its five-year fight to overturn an ordinance that forced certain County service providers to enter into labor peace agreements at the request of any union seeking to organize their employees. The ordinance deprived service providers and their employees of various rights they had and were entitled to exercise under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”).
In a ruling from the US. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit (attached), the Milwaukee County’s “Labor Peace Ordinance” (LPO) was found preempted by the National Labor Relations Act and declared unconstitutional and unenforceable. The Court specifically rejected the County’s claim that labor peace agreements are necessary to prevent work stoppages and delays in critical county services.
“We emphasize that a labor-peace agreement is as likely to increase as to decrease work stoppages, “ wrote the Court. “The mismatch between the interest in uninterrupted service and the requirement of labor peace agreements further demonstrates that the County’s motive is dissatisfaction with the balance that the National Labor Relations Act strikes between unions and management rather than concern with service interruptions.”
The Milwaukee County LPO was approved by the County Board and then-County Executive Tom Ament in 2000. Under the ordinance, any company with a contract with Milwaukee County for the provision of human services that exceeded $250,000 was required to enter into an agreement with any labor union seeking to organize that company’s employees.
“A number of MMAC members were threatened with having their service contracts with the County rescinded if they refused to enter into labor peace agreements and allow unionization to occur under the terms of the ordinance, “ noted MMAC President Tim Sheehy. “Today’s decision allows those service contracts to remain in place and is a victory for our members and their employees.
“I am extremely pleased that the court has ruled in our members’ favor and I am extremely grateful for the fine work of the law firm of Michael Best & Friedrich LLP in helping us make the case that this ordinance was an illegal preemption of the NLRA and a violation of the First Amendment Rights of employers and employees.,” said Sheehy. “The public is best served when government service contracts are based on the market factors of who can provide the best service at the lowest cost to the taxpayers, rather than on who is willing to toe the ideological line of whatever coalition is in political power at a given time. This decision is a victory for employers, employees and the taxpayers.”
