Oklahoma Supreme Court hears arguments on labor law

Tuesday, May 10th 2005, 1:27 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The state Supreme Court Tuesday heard arguments then took under advisement appeals over the constitutionality of a state law allowing employees of some Oklahoma cities to unionize.

The law passed last year says municipal employees in cities of more than 35,000 population can join a union.

A district court judge ruled the law is unconstitutional in a lawsuit by the cities of Enid and Lawton. And in another lawsuit a district court prohibited a union from being certified as the official bargaining unit for workers in Broken Arrow.

An attorney for the City of Enid told the Supreme Court today the law is unconstitutional because it's a special law affecting only certain cities -- those with more than 35-thousand people.

But attorneys for the unions and the city workers say the Legislature has passed many laws with similar population limits and they have been upheld as constitutional.

The court will issue a ruling on the cases later.