Conservative activist launches push for Wisconsin ‘right to work’ law

A longtime conservative activist with ties to national groups has started an organization to promote so-called “right to work” legislation.

Wisconsin Right to Work will seek changes in state law to prohibit businesses and unions from requiring workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

Gov. Scott Walker and GOP lawmakers already banned such requirements for most public employees in Wisconsin, but their 2011 law known as Act 10 didn’t affect private-sector unions or police and firefighters.

Advocates say that prohibiting employers and labor groups from making these agreements would give workers more freedom. Opponents of the measure say it dramatically weakens union finances and clout by allowing workers to get any potential benefits from a labor group in their workplace without having to provide anything in return.

“Wisconsin’s public employees have already demonstrated their strong desire for their right to choose as evidenced by the sharp decline in enrollment in the teacher’s unions since the passage of Gov. Walker’s (Act 10),” Lorri Pickens, executive director of Wisconsin Right to Work, said in a statement.