Rejoice. Dance in the streets. Enjoy living because Gov. Scott Walker’s evil right-to-work law has been struck down for violating the state Constitution.

Is this the sign Wisconsin is going to return to its early-1900s liberal paradise, basking in the glow of union fervor? No, Wisconsin will not, probably ever, become a union hub again.

So what does this ruling mean? Nothing. It means absolutely nothing.

This ruling, issued by a Dane County judge on April 8, stated the right-to-work legislation, also known as 2015 Act 1, directly violated a constitutional clause. This clause states the government cannot take property from individuals or organizations without fair compensation.

The right-to-work legislation forbade businesses from entering contracts with unions that required all workers, regardless of whether they were in the union or not, at that business to pay union dues. The property part was the contract and the unfair compensation part was not allowing union dues. And so, the unions won the court case.

But this ruling means nothing because it will not amount to any change in Act 1.

State Attorney General Brad Schimel has already declared he will appeal this ruling to the state Supreme Court. With newly elected state Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley and company, the court’s 5-2 conservative majority will rule on this case, probably by a 5-2 margin, reversing the Dane County judge’s decision and reinstating the right-to-work policies.

I do have to say, though, the Dane County judge’s ruling was fantastic. This 15-page document rips to shreds the legal ground that right-to-work stands on.

One of Schimel’s main arguments was “neither federal nor state law requires a union or other entity to become an exclusive bargaining representative.”

This type of argument is inherently false. Unions, whether workers like it or not, fight for them. To have a union, workers have to elect to have one. That means more than half the workforce has to approve of the union.

Of course, they should then be the bargaining representative. Historically, unions have been very good representation. Weekends, sick days, 40-hour work weeks, wrongful termination laws, overtime pay and sexual harassment laws all were fought for by unions.

The judge’s ruling cites just this fact.

“A union makes no election to become the exclusive representative; if the union exists at all and is chosen by a majority of the employees voting in a collective bargaining unit, then it must be the employees’ exclusive representative,” the ruling said.

In fact, the idea that unions have to be the sole representative of employees, if the employees vote to do so, is state law. A union’s definition, in the eyes of Wisconsin state law, is to “[engage in] collective bargaining with any employer concerning grievances, labor disputes, wages, hours, benefits or other terms or conditions of employment.”

Another major point unions have been arguing is Act 1 created a free-rider problem. The free-rider problem occurs when a person or group receives the benefits of a law or ruling or collective bargaining without contributing to their fair share to obtaining this outcome.

The ruling confirmed the union’s fears. Sighting an opinion by former federal Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, the ruling argues the issue surrounding free-riders can only occur due to government laws. The union system itself cannot create a free-rider problem.

What this ruling did is recognize that Act 1 eliminated the so-called fair share fee, a fee paid to unions by nonunion members for the work unions do to collectively bargain.

Act 1’s elimination of this fee is criminal and potentially violates federal, not just state, law. Since unions do work that improves not only their group, they should be fairly compensated for it.

With these two major grievances surrounding the right-to-work legislation, Schimel would need to bring his A-game, but with the state Supreme Court tilted as strongly as it is towards the conservative side, he will, without a doubt, win this case.

Aaron Reilly ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in comparative literature and Russian.