Madison, WI (March 6, 2012) – With free legal assistance from the National Right to Work Foundation and the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a Wisconsin public school teacher filed an amicus curiae brief in state court yesterday supporting Governor Walker’s public sector union reform bill. The recently-enacted legislation ensures that most Wisconsin public employees do not have to join or pay dues to a union as a condition of employment and bans automatic union dues deductions from public employees’ paychecks.

Eli Grajkowski, a veteran Wisconsin educator, filed the brief today in Dane County Circuit Court in response to a union legal challenge by the Public Employees Local 61 union and Madison Teachers, Inc., a local affiliate of the National Education Association (NEA) union.

In the brief, Grajkowski asks the judge to uphold the legislation as constitutional and deny the unions’ request to suspend the law. Grajkowski’s arguments rely on the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Davenport v. WEA, in which the Court unanimously held that union bosses enjoy an «extraordinary power» to force workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment, but have no constitutional right to use government resources to deduct union dues or fees from workers’ paychecks.

Meanwhile, three additional Wisconsin civil servants –Kristi Lacroix, Nathan Berish, and Ricardo Cruz – continue to defend Walker’s reforms from a federal court challenge to the recently-enacted legislation. Two other public servants – Christopher King and Carie Kendrick – have also filed an amicus brief opposing a third union legal challenge to the legislation in another federal court.

«Once again, courageous Wisconsin public servants who want nothing to do with union bosses’ so-called ‘representation’ have stepped forward to protect these vital reforms,» said Mark Mix, President of National Right to Work. «No worker should be forced to pay union dues just to get or keep a job, which is why Wisconsin should pass full Right to Work law, ensuring that all Badger State employees are free of forced unionism.»

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation is a nonprofit, charitable organization providing free legal aid to employees whose human or civil rights have been violated by compulsory unionism abuses. The Foundation, which can be contacted toll-free at 1-800-336-3600, assists thousands of employees in more than 250 cases nationwide per year.