Dive Brief:
- New bipartisan legislation with union backing could amend the National Labor Relations Act and force labor and employer parties to negotiate faster to create and ratify a collective bargaining agreement once workers vote to form a union.
- The legislation, introduced March 4 by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., would require parties to begin negotiations within 10 days of a union vote, and, if no agreement can be made within 90 days, to refer the matter to mediation. If mediation doesn’t result in a deal in 30 more days, the matter would be referred to binding arbitration to secure an initial contract.
- Employer groups decried the Faster Labor Contracts Act, with Associated Builders and Contractors claiming it would “impose unrealistic, arbitrary deadlines” and raised alarms about the power binding arbitration may wield.
Dive Insight:
Existing labor laws stack the deck in favor of employers that don’t wish to work with a union, according to a release from Hawley’s office describing the bill.
“While existing labor law requires workers and employers to bargain in good faith, the law currently doesn’t impose a negotiation deadline. Over the last few years, it’s taken longer and longer for new unions to secure first contracts,” the release said.
Indeed, a study published by the Economic Policy Institute in 2021 showed some unions wait years to get their contracts approved.
ABC CEO Michael Bellaman took issue with the legislation, especially the binding arbitration aspect, where a third party would make a legally enforceable decision.
“It may happen that in good faith negotiations, an agreement might not be possible, and therefore, the government should not insert itself in the negotiations,” Bellaman said in a news release, adding that the parties should be able to walk away from the deal and not be bound by arbitration.
“Giving bureaucrats the authority to force two parties to come to agreement is egregious and has never before been done in the private sector,” Bellaman said. “The parties, not the government, should determine the terms and conditions of employment.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters backed the bill, with General President Sean O’Brien claiming employers use the current landscape to their advantage.
“Their playbook is simple: stall, delay and drag out negotiations to deny workers from securing the wages and conditions they deserve,” O’Brien said in a release. “Teamsters are proud to support the Faster Labor Contracts Act — real labor law reform that forces employers to bargain in good faith and holds them accountable when they don’t.”
The other cosponsors on the bipartisan bill are Senators Cory Booker, D-N.J.; Gary Peters, D-Mich.; Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio; and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.
