Wisconsin Act 10, signed by Governor Scott Walker in March 2011, is the state law that stripped most public employees of meaningful collective bargaining, required them to pay roughly half of their pension contribution and at least 12% of their health insurance premium, and made their unions recertify every year to survive. The law remains in full effect in 2026, though a constitutional challenge is pending before the Wisconsin Court of Appeals.
What You Can Still Bargain Over
If you are a general municipal employee, including a teacher, your union can bargain over exactly one thing: total base wages. Act 10 explicitly removed overtime, premium pay, merit pay, performance bonuses, pay schedules, and automatic step increases from the bargaining table.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Legislative Council Act Memo – 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 Everything else, including hours, working conditions, grievance procedures, and seniority, is now set unilaterally by the employer through handbooks and administrative policy.
Even wage bargaining has a ceiling. Any negotiated raise cannot exceed the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for the prior year. To grant anything above the CPI cap, a school district or municipality has to send the question to voters in a referendum.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Legislative Council Act Memo – 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 The Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission publishes the applicable CPI figure each year so both sides know the ceiling before negotiations begin.2Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission. Consumer Price Index Calculation Chart
Two other changes box in what bargaining can accomplish. Collective bargaining agreements for general employees are limited to one-year terms and cannot be extended.3Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 111 – 111.70(4)(cm)8m Before Act 10, contracts ran two to four years depending on the employer. And interest arbitration, the mechanism that used to break deadlocks through a binding third-party decision, was eliminated for general employees.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Legislative Council Act Memo – 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 Mediation and grievance arbitration still exist, but they are voluntary with no power to compel a result.
What You Pay Toward Your Pension and Health Insurance
Act 10 required most public employees to begin paying roughly half of the actuarially required contribution to the Wisconsin Retirement System. Many employers had previously covered the full contribution. When the law took effect in June 2011, the general employee share was 5.8% of gross earnings.4Department of Employee Trust Funds. Information for Employers Regarding 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 and 2011 Wisconsin Act 32 The rate adjusts annually. For 2026, general employees and teachers each contribute 7.2% of earnings, matched by the employer at 7.2%.5Department of Employee Trust Funds. WRS Contribution Rates
The law also set a floor on your share of health insurance. An employer cannot contribute more than 88% of the average premium cost of the lowest-cost plan tier, which means you cover at least 12%.6Wisconsin State Legislature. 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 – Section 77 Together, the pension and insurance changes produced an immediate drop in take-home pay for workers who had previously paid little or nothing toward either.
One partial offset: the mandatory WRS contribution typically qualifies as an employer “pick-up” under Internal Revenue Code Section 414(h)(2). When a governmental employer formally designates the employee contribution as picked up, the amount is excluded from federal income tax at the time it is deducted. The contribution must be mandatory with no option to take the money as cash.7Internal Revenue Service. Employer Pick-Up Contributions to Benefit Plans Because WRS contributions are required by law, most Wisconsin public workers see the pension deduction reduce their taxable income. The money is taxed later, when distributed at retirement.
How Act 10 Changed Union Membership and Dues
Act 10 made it significantly harder for a union to exist as a legal entity. Under Wisconsin Statute 111.70, a union representing general municipal employees must win a recertification election every year. The threshold is affirmative votes from at least 51% of all employees in the bargaining unit, not 51% of those who show up to vote.8Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 111 – 111.70(4)(d)3.b Every worker who skips the election counts effectively as a no. If the union falls short, the commission decertifies it and the employees become nonrepresented.
The law also cut off the most reliable way unions collected money. Municipal employers are prohibited from deducting labor organization dues from the paychecks of general employees.9Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Statutes Chapter 111 – 111.70(3g) If you want to pay dues, you arrange your own bank transfer or payment. Dues checkoff still exists for public safety and transit employees, but not for teachers, administrative staff, or other general workers.
Who Is Exempt: Public Safety Employees
Not every public worker lost bargaining power. Act 10 carved out a category of “public safety employees” who kept the right to negotiate over wages, hours, and working conditions. The group includes municipal police officers, firefighters, deputy sheriffs, county traffic officers, and village employees who perform combined police and fire duties, provided they are classified as protective occupation participants under the WRS.1Wisconsin State Legislature. Wisconsin Legislative Council Act Memo – 2011 Wisconsin Act 10
These workers are not subject to the CPI wage cap, the one-year contract limit, the annual recertification requirement, or the dues checkoff ban. Their unions can still negotiate multi-year contracts covering the full range of employment terms.
A common misconception is that public safety employees are also exempt from WRS contribution requirements. They are not. The same 50/50 actuarial split applies to all WRS members.4Department of Employee Trust Funds. Information for Employers Regarding 2011 Wisconsin Act 10 and 2011 Wisconsin Act 32 The practical difference is that because public safety employees still have full bargaining rights, their unions can negotiate to have the employer continue paying the employee’s share as part of the compensation package. General employees lost that option when bargaining was limited to base wages. For 2026, the employee contribution rate for protective occupation participants is 7.2%, the same as for general employees, though total contribution rates are higher because protective pensions carry greater actuarial costs.5Department of Employee Trust Funds. WRS Contribution Rates
Is Act 10 Still the Law?
Yes. The two-tier system that exempts public safety workers while restricting everyone else has been the law’s most legally vulnerable feature from the start. In 2023, a coalition of unions and public employees sued in Dane County Circuit Court arguing that the distinction violates the equal protection guarantee of the Wisconsin Constitution. The case, Abbotsford Education Association v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission (Case No. 2023CV3152), went before Judge Jacob Frost.
On December 2, 2024, Judge Frost ruled that Act 10’s differential treatment of employee groups is unconstitutional and struck down most of the law’s restrictions on general employees. His order would have restored pre-2011 bargaining rights for all public workers. On December 18, 2024, he stayed his own ruling, keeping Act 10 in effect while the case is appealed.10Law Forward. Abbotsford et al v. WI Employment Relations Commission et al The Wisconsin Legislature intervened as a party and is defending the law.
In February 2025, the unions asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to bypass the Court of Appeals and hear the case directly. That petition was denied. As of May 2025, briefing is underway in the Court of Appeals, with no oral argument date set. Until the appellate courts issue a final decision, every provision of Act 10 described here remains in force, and any Wisconsin public employee or employer making decisions about bargaining, contributions, or union membership should plan based on the law as it currently stands.