111.85 Fair-share and maintenance of membership agreements.

(1)

(a) No fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement covering public safety employees may become effective unless authorized by a referendum. The commission shall order a referendum whenever it receives a petition supported by proof that at least 30 percent of the public safety employees in a collective bargaining unit desire that a fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement be entered into between the employer and a labor organization. A petition may specify that a referendum is requested on a maintenance of membership agreement only, in which case the ballot shall be limited to that question.

(b) For a fair-share agreement to be authorized, at least two-thirds of the eligible public safety employees voting in a referendum shall vote in favor of the agreement. For a maintenance of membership agreement to be authorized, at least a majority of the eligible public safety employees voting in a referendum shall vote in favor of the agreement. In a referendum on a fair-share agreement, if less than two-thirds but more than one-half of the eligible public safety employees vote in favor of the agreement, a maintenance of membership agreement is authorized.

(c) If a fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement is authorized in a referendum, the employer shall enter into such an agreement with the labor organization named on the ballot in the referendum. Each fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement shall contain a provision requiring the employer to deduct the amount of dues as certified by the labor organization from the earnings of the public safety employees affected by the agreement and to pay the amount so deducted to the labor organization. Unless the parties agree to an earlier date, the agreement shall take effect 60 days after certification by the commission that the referendum vote authorized the agreement. The employer shall be held harmless against any claims, demands, suits and other forms of liability made by public safety employees or local labor organizations which may arise for actions taken by the employer in compliance with this section. All such lawful claims, demands, suits and other forms of liability are the responsibility of the labor organization entering into the agreement.

(d) Under each fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement, a public safety employee who has religious convictions against dues payments to a labor organization based on teachings or tenets of a church or religious body of which he or she is a member shall, on request to the labor organization, have his or her dues paid to a charity mutually agreed upon by the public safety employee and the labor organization. Any dispute concerning this paragraph may be submitted to the commission for adjudication.

(2)

(a) Once authorized, a fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement covering public safety employees shall continue in effect, subject to the right of the employer or labor organization concerned to petition the commission to conduct a new referendum. Such petition must be supported by proof that at least 30 percent of the public safety employees in the collective bargaining unit desire that the fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement be discontinued. Upon so finding, the commission shall conduct a new referendum. If the continuance of the fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement is approved in the referendum by at least the percentage of eligible voting public safety employees required for its initial authorization, it shall be continued in effect, subject to the right of the employer or labor organization to later initiate a further vote following the procedure prescribed in this subsection. If the continuation of the agreement is not supported in any referendum, it is deemed terminated at the termination of the collective bargaining agreement, or one year from the date of the certification of the result of the referendum, whichever is earlier.

(b) The commission shall declare any fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement suspended upon such conditions and for such time as the commission decides whenever it finds that the labor organization involved has refused on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation or creed to receive as a member any public safety employee in the collective bargaining unit involved, and the agreement shall be made subject to the findings and orders of the commission. Any of the parties to the agreement, or any public safety employee covered thereby, may come before the commission, as provided in s. 111.07, and petition the commission to make such a finding.

(3) A stipulation for a referendum executed by an employer and a labor organization may not be filed until after the representation election has been held and the results certified.

(4) The commission may, under rules adopted for that purpose, appoint as its agent an official of a state agency whose public safety employees are entitled to vote in a referendum to conduct a referendum provided for herein.

(5) Notwithstanding sub. (1), if on July 1, 2015, there is a fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement in effect in any of the collective bargaining units specified in s. 111.825 (1) (a) to (f), that fair-share or maintenance of membership agreement shall apply to the corresponding collective bargaining unit under s. 111.825 (1r) (a) to (f) or (1t) (a) to (f), whichever is appropriate, without the necessity of filing a petition or conducting a referendum, subject to the right of the employees in each collective bargaining unit to file a petition requesting a referendum under sub. (2) (a).

History: 1971 c. 270; 1981 c. 112; 1983 a. 160; 1985 a. 42; 1995 a. 27; 2011 a. 10, 32; 2013 a. 20 ss. 2365m, 9448; 2013 a. 166; 2017 a. 365 s. 111.

The constitutional requirements of a union's collection of agency fees under a fair-share agreement include: 1) an adequate explanation of the basis of the fee; 2) a reasonably prompt opportunity to challenge the amount of the fee before an impartial decisionmaker; and 3) an escrow for the amounts reasonably in dispute. Browne v. WERC, 169 Wis. 2d 79, 485 N.W.2d 376 (1992).

To be chargeable to nonunion, public sector employees under a fair share agreement, union activities must: 1) be germane to collective bargaining activity; 2) be justified by the government's vital policy interest in labor peace and avoiding “free riders;" and 3) not significantly add to the burdening of free speech that is inherent in an agency or union shop. Browne v. WERC, 169 Wis. 2d 79, 485 N.W.2d 376 (1992).