Worker groups file suit to block budget bill

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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A coalition of Wisconsin worker rights groups is going to court to block Gov. Scott Walker’s budget repair bill.

The groups are filing a federal lawsuit against the governor’s plan to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights.

The groups are challenging the bill’s constitutionality. The lawsuit contends the bill violates the First and 14th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by stripping away workers’ rights to organize and bargain.

Organizations filing the challenge include councils of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, the American Federation of Teachers, the Wisconsin Education Association Council, the Wisconsin State Employees Union and the Service Employees International Union-Health Care Wisconsin.

Walker contends the law is needed to help address the state’s $3.6 billion budget shortfall.