111.06 What are unfair labor practices.

(1) It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employer individually or in concert with others:

(a) To interfere with, restrain or coerce the employer's employees in the exercise of the rights guaranteed in s. 111.04.

(b) To initiate, create, dominate or interfere with the formation or administration of any labor organization or contribute financial support to it, provided that an employer shall not be prohibited from reimbursing employees at their prevailing wage rate for the time spent conferring with the employer, nor from cooperating with representatives of at least a majority of the employer's employees in a collective bargaining unit, at their request, by permitting employee organizational activities on company premises or the use of company property facilities where such activities or use create no additional expense to the company, provided, however, that it shall not be an unfair labor practice for an employer to become a member of the same labor organization of which the employer's employees are members, when the employer and the employer's employees work at the same trade.

(c) To encourage or discourage membership in any labor organization, employee agency, committee, association, or representation plan by discrimination in regard to hiring, tenure, or other terms or conditions of employment.

(d) To refuse to bargain collectively with the representative of a majority of the employer's employees in any collective bargaining unit with respect to representation or terms and conditions of employment, provided, however, that where an employer files with the commission a petition requesting a determination as to majority representation, the employer shall not be deemed to have refused to bargain until an election has been held and the result thereof has been certified to the employer by the commission.

(e) To bargain collectively with the representatives of less than a majority of the employer's employees in a collective bargaining unit, or to enter into an all-union agreement.

(f) To violate the terms of a collective bargaining agreement, including an agreement to accept an arbitration award.

(g) To refuse or fail to recognize or accept as conclusive of any issue in any controversy as to employment relations the final determination, after appeal, if any, of any tribunal having competent jurisdiction of the same or whose jurisdiction the employer accepted.

(h) To discharge or otherwise discriminate against an employee because the employee has filed charges or given information or testimony in good faith under the provisions of this subchapter.

(i) To deduct labor organization dues or assessments from an employee's earnings, unless the employer has been presented with an individual order therefor, signed by the employee personally, and terminable by the employee giving to the employer at least 30 days' written notice of the termination. This paragraph applies to the extent permitted under federal law.

(j) To employ any person to spy upon employees or their representatives respecting their exercise of any right created or approved by this subchapter.

(k) To make, circulate or cause to be circulated a blacklist as described in s. 134.02.

(L) To commit any crime or misdemeanor in connection with any controversy as to employment relations.

(2) It shall be an unfair labor practice for an employee individually or in concert with others:

(a) To coerce or intimidate an employee in the enjoyment of the employee's legal rights, including those guaranteed in s. 111.04, or to intimidate the employee's family, picket the employee's domicile, or injure the person or property of the employee or the employee's family.

(b) To coerce, intimidate or induce any employer to interfere with any of the employer's employees in the enjoyment of their legal rights, including those guaranteed in s. 111.04, or to engage in any practice with regard to the employer's employees which would constitute an unfair labor practice if undertaken by the employer on the employer's own initiative.

(c) To violate the terms of a collective bargaining agreement, including an agreement to accept an arbitration award.

(d) To refuse or fail to recognize or accept as conclusive of any issue in any controversy as to employment relations the final determination, after appeal, if any, of any tribunal having competent jurisdiction of the same or whose jurisdiction the employees or their representatives accepted.

(e) To cooperate in engaging in, promoting or inducing picketing that does not constitute an exercise of constitutionally guaranteed free speech, boycotting or any other overt concomitant of a strike unless a majority in a collective bargaining unit of the employees of an employer against whom such acts are primarily directed have voted by secret ballot to call a strike.

(f) To hinder or prevent, by mass picketing, threats, intimidation, force or coercion of any kind the pursuit of any lawful work or employment, or to obstruct or interfere with entrance to or egress from any place of employment, or to obstruct or interfere with free and uninterrupted use of public roads, streets, highways, railways, airports, or other ways of travel or conveyance.

(g) To engage in a secondary boycott; or to hinder or prevent, by threats, intimidation, force, coercion or sabotage, the obtaining, use or disposition of materials, equipment or services; or to combine or conspire to hinder or prevent, by any means whatsoever, the obtaining, use or disposition of materials, equipment or services, provided, however, that nothing herein shall prevent sympathetic strikes in support of those in similar occupations working for other employers in the same craft.

(h) To take unauthorized possession of property of the employer or to engage in any concerted effort to interfere with production except by leaving the premises in an orderly manner for the purpose of going on strike.

(i) To fail to give the notice of intention to engage in a strike provided in s. 111.115 (3).

(j) To commit any crime or misdemeanor in connection with any controversy as to employment relations.

(L) To engage in, promote or induce a jurisdictional strike.

(m) To coerce or intimidate an employer working at the same trade of the employer's employees to induce the employer to become a member of the labor organization of which they are members, permissible pursuant to s. 111.06 (1) (b).

(3) It shall be an unfair labor practice for any person to do or cause to be done on behalf of or in the interest of employers or employees, or in connection with or to influence the outcome of any controversy as to employment relations any act prohibited by subs. (1) and (2).

History: 1971 c. 245; 1973 c. 320; 1975 c. 74, 199; 1983 a. 189 s. 329 (29); 1993 a. 492; 1995 a. 27, 225; 1999 a. 83; 2011 a. 10; 2015 a. 1.

A company is not required to bargain over a decision to use equipment that eliminates jobs, but it is required to bargain over the effects of the decision on the rights of the employees to severance pay, seniority, and related issues. Libby, McNeill & Libby v. WERC, 48 Wis. 2d 272, 179 N.W.2d 805 (1970).

Federal law has preempted the question of whether a union rule imposing a fine for exceeding production ceilings constitutes an unfair labor practice. UAW, Local 283 v. Scofield, 50 Wis. 2d 117, 183 N.W.2d 103 (1971).

The failure to exhaust the available grievance remedies by an employee who was allegedly discharged in violation of the contract precluded recourse to the courts absent a wrongful refusal by the union to process the employee's grievance. Mahnke v. WERC, 66 Wis. 2d 524, 225 N.W.2d 617 (1975).

WERC is authorized by s. 111.06 (1) (L) to determine whether conduct in violation of criminal law has occurred. Such authorization is not a delegation of judicial power in violation of Art. VII, s. 2 nor does the procedure violate Art. I, s. 8. Layton School of Art & Design v. WERC, 82 Wis. 2d 324, 262 N.W.2d 218 (1978).

State jurisdiction was preempted when a secondary boycott violated the federal act. Clarkin v. Dingeldein, 107 Wis. 2d 373, 320 N.W.2d 40 (Ct. App. 1982).

Federal preemption of labor relations is discussed. Machinists v. WERC, 427 U.S. 132.

The federal Labor Management Relations Act (a/k/a the Taft-Hartley Act) preempts Wisconsin's attempt in 2015 Wis. Act 1 to change the rules for payroll deductions that allow employees to pay union dues through dues-checkoff authorizations. Under the Taft-Hartley Act, a state simply is not allowed to impose its own view of how best to balance the interests of labor and management in zones that Congress deliberately left for resolution by collective bargaining. Under 29 USC 186 (c) (4), the Taft-Hartley Act leaves it to private actors—not the states—to decide how long a dues-checkoff authorization should last, as long as the authorization is individual, in writing, and not irrevocable for longer than one year. Sub. (1) (i) attempts to shorten this maximum period to 30 days. That attempt to add additional regulatory requirements for dues-checkoffs, and thus to change the scope of permissible collective bargaining, is preempted. International Ass'n of Machinists District Ten & Local Lodge 873 v. Allen, 904 F.3d 490 (2018).

Duty to bargain over decision to mechanize operations. Boivin, 55 MLR 179.

Duty to bargain basic business decisions prior to implementation. 1971 WLR 1250.