In the past four years, Wisconsin's state law forbidding strikes in public utilities has been invoked 43 times to prevent shutdowns in bus lines, streetcar lines, the supply of gas and light. But last week the law was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Under the justices' eye were two cases involving streetcar workers and gas workers who maintained that Wisconsin had no right to require compulsory arbitration as the final step in a utility labor dispute. Chief Justice Fred Vinson and five other justices agreed with them. The justices' reasoning: compulsory arbitration destroys the right to strike, which is guaranteed...
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