WERC labor relations dispute resolution services are those provided for in the three statutes that WERC administers and the related administrative rules. The Municipal Employment Relations Act (MERA) covers municipal employment relationships. The State Employment Labor Relations Act (SELRA) covers the State of Wisconsin and its relationships with certain categories of its employes. The Wisconsin Employment Peace Act (WEPA) covers private sector employers and their relationships with their employes, except to the extent that some WEPA provisions are pre-empted by federal law.

Links to digests, lists and full-text searchable archives of WERC decisions regarding various types of statutory labor relations disputes are available elsewhere on this site.

Complaint Case Adjudication Each of the three statutes defines practices that are unlawful. MERA refers to such practices as prohibited practices; SELRA and WEPA refer to them as unfair labor practices. Each statute authorizes WERC to adjudicate complaints filed by a party such as an employe, an employer or labor organization asserting that another party has committed one or more of the unlawful practices. WERC is also authorized to order a remedy for violations found to have been committed. Remedies can include cease-and-desist, reinstatement, back pay, interest, and/or the restoration of previously existing conditions, but attorneys fees are ordinarily not available.

WERC ordinarily delegates the responsibility for conducting the administrative hearing to a member of its mediator/attorney staff. The designated hearing examiner issues a written decision that is subject to review by the Commission and appeal to the Courts. Complaint cases are initiated by the filing of a complaint by the aggrieved party. View Form and Instruction Sheet. View Complaint Process Booklet. View Hearing Examiner Manual. Complaints ordinarily must be filed within one year of the complained of conduct.

Representation and Union Security Case Adjudication Each of the three statutes also authorizes WERC to conduct secret-ballot representation and union security elections and to conduct hearings to resolve disputes about bargaining unit composition, employe status and eligibility to vote, and other issues. WERC is also responsible for resolving unit clarification disputes that arise concerning whether particular positions are properly to be included in or excluded from an existing bargaining unit.

WERC ordinarily delegates the responsibility for conducting such hearings to a member of its staff, but WERC ordinarily issues the initial decision in the matter itself, based on recommendations prepared by the staff hearing examiner assigned to the case.

Representation election and unit clarification cases are initiated by the filing of a petition. Petitions for elections among represented employees must be filed within certain limited time periods and, in some cases, additional requirements must be met for an election to be conducted. View Forms. View MERA Representation Case Guide. View Hearing Examiner Manual.

If the WERC's decision directs that a secret ballot vote be taken, Commission personnel arrange and conduct the vote either at or near the employer's premises involved or by mail or telephonic ballot. View Election Conduct Manual. For municipal and state employees other than transit and public safety, annual recertification elections are required with a standard of 51% of eligibles required for continued representative status.* For all other elections, a majority of those voting is required to support representation or continued representation.

Declaratory Ruling Case Adjudication As an administrative agency within the meaning of Chapter 227 of the Statutes, the WERC is authorized by that Chapter to adjudicate and decide disputes concerning the meaning and application of each of the three statutes it administers.

When petitions for declaratory rulings are filed under that general Chapter 227 procedure, the law gives the agency discretion whether or not to hear and decide the question(s) presented. However, MERA Sec. 111.70(4)(b), Stats., requires the WERC to hear and decide questions raised in petitions for declaratory rulings concerning the scope of collective bargaining, that is, whether particular bargaining proposals are mandatory or non-mandatory subjects of bargaining.*

The WERC ordinarily delegates the responsibility for conducting declaratory ruling hearings to the WERC General Counsel, but the WERC ordinarily issues the initial declaratory ruling itself, after considering a draft decision prepared by the General Counsel. Declaratory ruling cases are initiated by the filing of a petition by an interested party. The form for a Sec. 111.70(4)(b), Stats., petition is described in detail in Commission Rule ERC 18.02, WIS. ADM. CODE. View Rules.

Each of the statutes administered by WERC makes WERC mediation services available to the parties. Under WEPA the right to strike and lockout are recognized as available impasse resolution processes. MERA provides varying impasse resolution processes depending on the type of bargaining unit and in some cases the population of the municipal employer involved.* SELRA provides a non-binding, non-compellable fact finding process for contract negotiation impasse resolution.*

Mediation Each of the statutes administered by WERC places a high policy value on encouraging voluntary settlement of disputes. To assist parties in reaching voluntary settlements of both contract negotiation disputes and contract grievance disputes, WERC offers the services of its Commissioners and mediator/attorney staff as mediators. WERC mediators have no authority to decide the matters at issue between the parties, only to assist the parties through joint or separate discussions in an effort to clarify, narrow and ultimately resolve the issues. View Mediation Outline. Mediation services are obtained by one or both parties filing either a request for mediation services [View Forms] or, where applicable, a petition for interest arbitration or fact finding as described below.*

Interest Arbitration and Fact Finding Non-supervisory police-fire contract negotiation disputes in jurisdictions of 2500 or more are subject to final offer package interest arbitration under Sec. 111.77, Stats. Supervisory and non-supervisory City of Milwaukee police contract negotiation impasses are subject to a different arbitration process in Sec. 111.70(4)(jm), Stats., under which the arbitrator decides each disputed issue without being limited to selection of a party's final offer on that issue. Non-supervisory police-fire contract negotiation disputes in jurisdictions of less than 2500 population are subject to compellable, non-binding fact finding under Sec. 111.70(4)(c)3., Stats. Non-supervisory transit unit negotiation disputes are subject to compellable and binding final offer package arbitration under Sec. 111.70(4)(cm), Stats.*

Where applicable, interest arbitration and fact finding are initiated by the filing of a petition by one or both parties involved. View Forms. Upon the filing of a petition, WERC ordinarily assigns a mediator-investigator who attempts to mediate the dispute to the extent appropriate and who otherwise processes the case to a settlement or until the conditions precedent to a Commission initiating interest arbitration or fact finding have been met. When the Commission issues such an order, it provides the parties with a list of arbitrators or fact-finders drawn by computer from its roster of neutral decisionmakers not employed by the WERC. View Roster policies and membership application. The appointed interest arbitrator or fact finder then conducts a hearing at which the parties present evidence and arguments in support of their bargaining proposals, and then a binding interest arbitration award or non-binding fact finding recommendation is ultimately issued. View lists and searchable databases of interest awards.

Grievance Arbitration by WERC-employed Arbitrators WERC Commissioners and mediator/attorney staff also conduct hearings and issue written awards in disputes between a labor organization and an employer concerning the meaning and application of an existing collective bargaining agreement. Requests for such services are initiated by the filing of a request form View Forms.

WERC attempts where possible to assign grievance arbitrators in accordance with joint requests of both parties. At the joint request of the parties, the WERC will also provide a computer generated list drawn from WERC-employed arbitrators then available to be assigned additional cases. View lists and full-text databases of grievance awards issued by WERC-employed arbitrators since July 1, 1989. View Grievance Arbitrator Manual.

Grievance Arbitration by Arbitrators Not Employed by WERC At the request of one or both parties to a collective bargaining agreement containing an agreement to arbitrate a dispute about its meaning and application, WERC will provide a list of names drawn by computer from the WERC roster of neutral decisionmakers not employed by the WERC. Requests for WERC provision of such a list are initiated by the filing of a request form. View Forms.

There is no fee for WERC's provision of such lists, however the parties are responsible for payment of the arbitrator's fees and expenses. Individual biographical and fee information sheets on file from each Roster member are available elsewhere on this site, along with the agency's Roster policies.

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*For state and municipal employees other than transit and public safety, 2011 Wisconsin Acts 10 and 32 outlawed collective bargaining on all subjects except base wages up to the cost of living, eliminated interest arbitration and fact finding, outlawed mandatory and voluntary employer collection of union dues, limited collective bargaining agreements to one year, and required annual recertification elections as a condition of a union’s continued exclusive representative status. As of the Spring of 2012, litigation challenging various of those provisions is pending in both Federal and State Courts.